Manitoba has the second highest crime rates in the country according to Canada's 2017 Police Reported Crime Statistics. Manitoba reported a three percent increase in the Crime Severity Index, with Saskatchewan and Alberta; these three provinces accounted for 47 percent of the nation's rural crime.

Manitoba RCMP police over 580 communities in Manitoba Media Relations Officer for RCMP in Manitoba Tara Seel says. With the number of communities, she says there are many attributing factors to the increase in crime rates. According to Seel, there isn't a single factor attributing to the rise in crime.

"Each community throughout the province has very unique characteristics and concerns, keeping that in mind we can not oversimplify or attribute the rise in crime to one particular factor and cause. We are very aware that two of our communities were in the top ten with this year's ranking of communities with a population of over 10 thousand, and that would be Thompson and Portage la Prairie. In those communities, we did see an increase increasing level of violence and drug-related criminal activity and gangs were a contributing factor."

Crime statistics are numbers explains Seel, numbers don't tell the entire story. With Manitoba's reported rural crime rates 42 percent higher than the province’s urban crime rate it's difficult to ascertain a single reason for the increase. The RCMP uses trained criminal analysts says Seel. Looking at the data, analysts factor in population growth and if people are reporting more crimes.

Seel notes that the RCMP has seen more reports of crime, however, there are no surprising trends but continued factors in the communities.

"In one way we are doing that detachment commanders are in constant contact and with leadership, about establishing priorities for each community and initiating programs to address local crime issues. It needs to be stressed each community has different challenges and requirements and we're fully committed to working with each community separately to address those."

In the province, a rise in drug use, particularly opioid and methamphetamine, is fueling violent crime. Another continued trend is alcohol and substance abuse issues, and domestic violence. These factors are a significant priority for the RCMP states Seel, working in conjunction with the communities.

One of the best ways the RCMP understands the crime in a community is from reported crimes. With crimes reported that data shows whether or not there are trends in a community. Seel says that if a person is a victim of a crime to report it to authorities or Manitoba Crime Stoppers.

She explains the more they know, the more the RCMP can help.