While crime stats in the province have seen a substantial increase, the rate of serious crime is down.

Statistics Canada figures show an increase in non-violent crime in Newfoundland and Labrador of 36 per cent over the 10-year period 2014 to 2024, but a 7 per cent reduction in violent crime in 2024 compared to 2023.

RNC Constable James Cadigan says among the calls for service stats kept by the Constabulary, repeat crime accounts for a big part of that jump.

“Recidivism plays a role,” says Cadigan, “recidivism is the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend. If you look at many of the investigations that we release to the public and end up in provincial court…on many occasions you do see breach of some kind of court order connected to the charge at hand.” That, says Cadigan is an important factor when it comes to crime stats in this province.

He says changes within the RNC and the creation of a separate drug and weapons enforcement unit is helping to identify some of those repeat offenders.

“We work closely with the RCMP in our province with that unit. With a full provincial-scale investigative format, we’re able to identify some of the problem areas, and some reoffenders,” says Cadigan and they’re able to identify drugs and weapons activity in the community. He says its an example of how policing evolves based on the information available.