Vancouver crime survey shows residents fear rise despite stats | Daily Hive

Most Vancouver residents believe crime is getting worse, despite police data

Smashed windows at TD Bank in Woodward’s, October 2022. (Submitted)

Most people in Vancouver believe that crime in the city is getting worse, despite police statistics showing the opposite.

That’s the takeaway from the Vancouver Police Department’s latest community satisfaction survey, presented to the Police Board on Sept. 11.

The Leger poll, done between December 2024 and January 2025, asked 1,760 people who live, work or regularly visit the city about their views on safety.

According to the survey, 80 per cent said they’re worried about crime, and 60 per cent believe it has gotten worse over the past year.

For business owners, those fears are hitting their bottom line.

Close to one in three said they’ve hired private security in the past year, while three in five said their staff are anxious about crime in the area.

About 30 per cent reported some employees were too afraid to come to work, and nearly three in 10 said they’d lost customers because people don’t feel safe.

As Daily Hive previously reported, a Business Improvement Areas of B.C. survey released in August also found that two-thirds of business owners across the province say crime and street disorder have worsened over the past year, pointing to open drug use, vandalism, and repeated thefts.

Nearly three-quarters said their staff are experiencing heightened fear and anxiety, while more than half reported losing customer traffic.

Concerns extend beyond businesses.

More than a third of residents told the VPD they’ve changed their daily routines because of crime.

About 12 per cent said they were victims in the past year, a slight drop from earlier surveys, though a third of those incidents went unreported.

Still, most respondents rated the VPD’s work as at least average, and nearly two-thirds said they were satisfied with the service they received.

A gap between data and perception

The findings sparked a broader conversation at the Sept. 11 board meeting about how people’s fears don’t always align with police data.

“Indicators and metrics that we’ve received indicate that crime is down in pretty much every category. But the perception is still above 50 per cent,” Chief Cst. Steve Rai said during the meeting. “So people still feel that it’s not safe.”

Rai said that shifting perception is proving difficult.

“Perception of crime and fear of crime is a trend we’re not winning on right now,” he said during the meeting.

“It could be for a whole host of reasons… social media, TV shows, people talking about it. One story could create perception about the whole year for someone.”

Survey consultant Ellen Daw, senior vice-president at Leger, added that people often feel secure close to home but less so when thinking about the city as a whole.

“Within their neighbourhood, they might feel safe,” he said.

“But if you expand the scope, their fear is propagated by the perceptions that are out there and being spread by things happening elsewhere.”

Vancouver crime down, costs up

While the perception gap grows, police data shows that overall crime has actually fallen.

A VPD performance report covering the first half of 2025 found that total crime dropped slightly compared to last year, with violent crime down nearly 10 per cent and property crime down almost two per cent.

But keeping those numbers down has been expensive.

According to the report, for the second quarter, which ended on June 30 of this year, the VPD is over budget by 2.3 per cent or nearly $5 million. Projections suggest the force will be over budget by 1.9 per cent, or $7,927,933, by the end of the year.

Much of that comes from regular officer overtime costs, according to VPD’s Q2 2025 financial report.

Vancouver Police Department Q2 2025 financial report. (VPD)

Equipment, uniforms, and legal fees also blew past projections.

And even as the VPD reports crime is trending down, both business owners and the public continue to say safety fears remain high.

Daily Hive has reached out to the Vancouver Police Department for clarification on how the overtime hours are being used and is awaiting a response.

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