A new report from the University of Calgary says that property crime has jumped since early 2015 and it’s believed that the recession and the rise of fentanyl are to blame.
The School of Public Policy released a report on Wednesday, saying that the average number of property crime incidents increased by more than 50 percent.
The institution says that such a drastic change can only mean that there was an equivalently large change in one or more factors, namely a climbing unemployment rate and a surge in price for illegal drugs.
The report shows that there is a good deal of evidence to indicate economic downturns create crime opportunity and sufficient motivation.
Deaths from fentanyl use more than tripled in 2015 relative to 2014, which indicates a rise in popularity for the drug. Given the cost of opioids, officials say that could also contribute to the rise in property crime.
The report comes as the City of Calgary is hosting a national conference aimed at crime prevention.
On Thursday and Friday, community leaders and politicians will be discussing crime trends, crime prevention and approaches to connect municipalities to help with the issue.
For more information on the conference, go to the official website.
