VICTORIA -- Oak Bay continues to see a rise in crime, according to the Oak Bay Police's latest crime stats.
The report shows that the district saw an increase in eleven out of seventeen reportable offences -- with the biggest jump coming in the amount of break and enters, theft from vehicles, and thefts under $5000 dollars.
Break and enters to commercial businesses rose from just six in 2018 to sixteen last year, while the number of break and enters occurring at residential properties spiked up from eighteen in 2018, all the way up to 38 in 2019.
A few of the more eye-popping figures also include the significant increase of reports of 'suspicious persons' -- as that number rose from 465 in 2018 to 565 last year. The stats also cite a spike in domestic disputes, which resulted in 39 cases last year -- up from just 20 in 2018.
Other offences that saw year-over-year increases from 2018 include Impaired driving offences, as well as breach and bail violations. The stats do however note that common assaults in Oak Bay dropped to nineteen last year, after 27 cases were reported in 2018.
There were also seventeen missing persons reported in Oak Bay last year, which is down from 24 in 2018.