Windsor has lowest murder rate in Canada

There's been lots of talk about violent crime on here lately but here's some good news: there hasn't been a murder in metropolitan Windsor for almost 23 months! Last year, it was the only metro area in Canada [[of population over 200,000) not to record a murder and so far this year it's the only one without a murder.

It's kind of interesting that during most of that stretch, Windsor had the highest unemployment rate in the country [[although the poverty rate remains low). The unemployment title was recently taken over by London though after Windsor's rate fell to 8% last month.

Could it be because Windsor is not in the United States?

That has nothing to do with it - I was only comparing it to other places in Canada.

Good job Windsor and Canada! Something works for you guys over there, not sure exactly what it is, probably a combination of things. But your neighbors to the south are envious, or at least we should be!

The Detroit-Windsor area looks somewhat as a micro-cosmos on how you should apply politics.

Also it's a net result for stricter gun laws.

There are cities in the US that ban pretty much any type of gun, and they have fairly high rates of crime. There are cities where nearly everyone has a CCW and carries, and they have low rates of crime. The opposite is also true. There is little correlation.

Illinois has fairly restrictive gun laws, yet has more violence committed with guns than Michigan. Alaska has very liberal gun laws and is in the middle of the pack as far as state-by-state gun violence goes. Vermont has very liberal gun laws as well, and it has very low rates of gun violence.

Anywhoo - congratulations, Windsor!

If Windsor is so great, their politics and gun laws, then why isn't there a large migration of people from the Detroit side of the border to Windsor.....

they should be having a construction boom with the influx of people seeking the panacea of Canadian living......

I've thought about moving to Windsor, but it would add 30 minutes to my commute and cost $3.75 every time I would cross the border, and Canada has an expensive federal sales tax on everything it seems. Rents seem affordable though... Is the rumor true that Americans can live and work in Canada without many restrictions?

From what I've heard it's a huge hassle to immigrate to move in either direction across the border.

Not sure if people are taking this the wrong way or what but I did not post this news as some sort of American bashing [[I love Detroit and the US). I was always only comparing Windsor to the rest of Canada and how this is good news and publicity for our region [[it's starting to make national headlines).

Not really. I know one person that has tried to get into Canada, an American born citizen, and he has struggled with it, even tho he has a degree and no criminal record.

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Originally Posted by Embee

That has nothing to do with it - I was only comparing it to other places in Canada.

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Well excuse me. I was merely asking a question. Since as you stated you are only comparing Windsor to other places in Canada does this post belong on Discuss Detroit? Just asking.

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Originally Posted by Whitehouse

Also it's a net result for stricter gun laws.

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There are other factors involved, but I agree it's part of it. Not only are there stricter gun laws in Canada [[regulations for owning a gun), but they also raised the mandatory minimum prison term sentences to 3 years in 2008 for first time offenders getting caught with a handgun in any crime. http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/14...for-gun-crimes For repeat offenders, it's 5 years.

In other words, if you rob a convenience store with a knife, you may get probation. If you rob it with a gun, there is no probation. You have to serve at least 3 years in prison.

Also, Windsor also has a much higher than capita police force than Detroit and most other cities in Canada.

I'm sure if Detroit spent more per capita on their police force and Michigan imposed mandatory min. jail term sentences of 3 years for gun related crime, you would see a significant drop in Detroit too. Stricter gun laws alone won't see the same results.

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Originally Posted by Goose

If Windsor is so great, their politics and gun laws, then why isn't there a large migration of people from the Detroit side of the border to Windsor.....

they should be having a construction boom with the influx of people seeking the panacea of Canadian living......

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They do. I know a lot of Americans living in Windsor. That's why they have the Nexus pass. The problem is Canadians don't want to live in Windsor because they can't find work so Canadians leaving the city offsets any gains by Americans moving to Windsor.

MidTownMs, I'm fairly new to the site but from what I've gathered just looking around the banners of this website [[and even the subtitle of the "Discuss Detroit" section), any discussion on the Detroit-Windsor metropolis is welcomed.

Windsor has one of the weakest economies in Canada. And Canadians generally have considerably less buying power, since almost everything is much more expensive and highly taxed. So that's probably why Americans aren't moving there.

As to safety, "Detroit" is probably comparable to Windsor. Murders aren't a proxy for safety, and we all know that "Detroit" is overwhelmingly outside of the real Detroit nowadays.

Is Northville Township less safe than Windsor? I doubt it. That's "Detroit" for a whole bunch of folks.

Embee, chill out. You're bringing good news to us all. No worries. :D

Sincere congratulations. Teach us, please!

Dave, there's an article in today's Windsor Star about this and it mentions that Detroit is more heavily policed. It says Windsor has 473 police officers and Detroit has 2770.

So, Windsor has 2.2 officers per 100k and Detroit has 3.3.

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Originally Posted by MidTownMs

Could it be because Windsor is not in the United States?

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MidTownMs is spot on. Windsor has a very low violent crime rate mostly because it is located in a civilized country, as opposed to the crime-ridden United States.

Canada has a very low rate of violent crime, similar to all of the other top nations in the world, such as Japan, Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Greece, Portugal, New Zealand, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. The United States has a very high rate of violent crime, similar to countries like Bolivia, Haiti, Chile, Albania, Estonia, Kenya, etc.

The difference between a civilized country like Canada and a violent, crime-ridden country like America is quite remarkable. For example, in 2003, the city of Chicago ALONE had 598 murders, while the ENTIRE COUNTRY of Canada had 548 murders in the same year.

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Originally Posted by Embee

MidTownMs, I'm fairly new to the site but from what I've gathered just looking around the banners of this website [[and even the subtitle of the "Discuss Detroit" section), any discussion on the Detroit-Windsor metropolis is welcomed.

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You are 100% correct Embee. The "Detroit" of Discuss Detroit = the international family of communities surrounding 'Le Detroit', a mega city that happens to be divided by the Straits of Detroit and into two countries.

Our situation makes our metropolis special and allows for interesting and contrasting discussion, as in this thread. Setting aside nationality for a moment, what do our family members on the southside of town have to offer the rest of our city?

Some things to consider are that everyone in our common city who lives south of the straits has health insurance coverage, regardless if they have or lose a job, regardless if they are homeless or wealthy. One is not cast out of society if their fortunes sour.

They also seem to understand the difference between guns that hunt animals and those that are for hunting humans only. The aren't perfect, but it seems they understand the difference between a hockey fight and a gun fight.

Today is the 2-year anniversary of the last homicide in the city. We are getting much-needed good publicity from the national news!


Windsor murder free for 2 years
Police credit gun control and drug unit for drop in homicide rate

CBC News
Sep 27, 2011

It's been two years since someone last committed homicide in Windsor, Ont. It's a stretch that impresses law enforcement officials on both sides of the border.

"It's a record that all of us right across the country envy, it's really quite extraordinary and I think it's something that the people of Windsor should be very, very proud of," Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said. "I use it as an example," Minneapolis police Chief Timothy Dolan said earlier in September. As of Sept. 1, Minneapolis had 22 homicides this year.

"The cities are so similar in so many ways, the policing is so similar — except for one factor, and that's that they have reasonable gun control up in Canada," Dolan said. Windsor police credit those gun control laws and their focus on local guns, gangs and drugs for keeping the homicide rate low.

"It's a long stretch, but to attribute it to any one thing, I think, would be really dangerous," Windsor police Chief Gary Smith said. "There's a lot of things that stop the homicide rate, but the biggest factor is how we police it, because if we can keep the guns off the streets then that also reduces the risks."

In 2006, Windsor created a guns, gangs and drugs unit, specifically designed to handle the cross-border drug trade. As of Sept. 1, Windsor police had seized 38 guns this year. They seized 42 in the previous two years combined.
The last killing in Windsor occurred Sept. 27, 2009. Mohamed Yousef, 23, was shot in the back after exiting a bar in the early morning hours. By comparison, Halifax had 28 homicides in the last two years, up to Sept. 1, 2011. Regina has had 15 homicides during the same time period. Detroit, which is just 1,200 metres from Windsor and has a population four times larger, has recorded 260 homicides to date in 2011.

Smith also credits what he calls the local "highly trained EMS and emergency room" staff for saving lives that otherwise may be lost in the aftermath of a violent confrontation." Smith said that during the last two years there have been "close calls" involving the victims of stabbings and beatings who were kept alive in time to be treated and saved at hospital.

Smith knows the homicide-free streak won't last forever and acknowledges there is an element of luck involved. And there are some academics who question the link between guns and violent crime rates, much less homicide. "It's a popular approach among law enforcement to go after the guns. It's fairly easy to do but there's almost no evidence that it has an impact on the violent crime rate," said David Martin, program director at Wayne State University's Center for Urban Studies. "In Windsor where homicides are a fairly rare event it would be very difficult to prove that that would be an effective strategy."

Studies suggest economic hardship is tied to a rise in violent crime. "Not surprisingly we do know that communities with higher rates of unemployment tend to have higher rates of crime, especially violent crime," said Martin. That makes Windsor's current streak even more impressive because Windsor had Canada's highest unemployment rate for 16 of the 24 months of this streak. Coincidently, one of Windsor's longest homicide-free streaks came during the heart of the Great Depression when the city lived through 1933 through 1935 without a homicide. That's still not the local record. Windsor went four years without a homicide, from 1918-1921. Windsor's 25-year average for homicides is 5.24. Over 50 years it's 4.78.

This is great news. Just curious, has anyone even been charged with attempted murder during this span?

Not that I know of Lowell. Though we have had some instances where a few people could have died from trauma but luckily didn't.

Typical police always taking credit. Sorry but their gun and drug units haven't done much. The fact is crime is down almost everywhere, and by a significant margin compared to other years.

As I have had discussions about this with other people they share the consensus that Windsor has had luck and also we see so much murder from Detroit we wonder if it has played a role in Windsor's low murder rate ie: we see it so much why would we want to do that here?

Also some notorious bars are now closed down thanks to pressure from residents. These bars have had a few murders outside of them. I know that has helped to some degree as well.

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Originally Posted by Embee

There's been lots of talk about violent crime on here lately but here's some good news: there hasn't been a murder in metropolitan Windsor for almost 23 months!

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nock on wood