Study Area

Figure. 1 from (Andresen & Hodgkinson, 2022)

The first known study of COVID and crime was published in the USA and several studies have conflicting results. In Chicago and New York, studies suggest that spatial and temporal patterns of crime was significantly affected by COVID (Tselka et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2021). Los Angeles and Indianapolis did not detect any dramatic changes in crime rates during the early stages of COVID (Andresen & Hodgkinson, 2022). Internationally, Sweden, Mexico, and England mirrored the results in Los Angeles and Indianapolis. However, in Queensland, Australia, crime increased immediately once the social restrictions were lifted. A city in China has also seen an increase in crime to a level higher than pre-pandemic after the restriction was lifted (Andresen & Hodgkinson, 2022).

In Vancouver and Canada as a whole, COVID has effected us moderately compared to other parts of the world (Andresen & Hodgkinson, 2022). First positive case was confirmed on January 28, 2020 and soon after on March 20 and March 21, 2020 all dine-in establishments, personal service establishments, schools, and etcetera were closed as BC entered a provincial lockdown. During this year, social gathering and non-essential travel was prohibited as well. 2021 was part of BC’s restart plan and although major restrictions on travel, dining, and services were lifted, other restrictions were set in place to reduce social gathering (Kotyk, 2021). For the purpose of this study, each year represented the COVID-statuses. 2019 was Pre-COVID, 2020 was Lockdown, and 2021 was Restriction.

Vancouver consist of 22 neighbourhoods with an area of 114 square kilometres that are policed by the Vancouver Police Department (Andresen & Hodgkinson, 2022). The general trend of police-reported crime, both violent and non-violent in Vancouver has decreased since 2009 to 2014 and stabilized since 2015 to 2018 (Statistics Canada, 2020). This study examines five types of crimes – Commercial Break and Enter, Residential Break and Enter, Mischief, Theft of Vehicle (Auto Theft), and Other Theft (Property Theft). It is important to note that all crime locations have been off-set to prevent the identification and protection of the victims. Several crime types like Homicide and Offence Against a Person was not included in the research as the location for these crime types are not provided by the VPD.