Safer Communities and Crime Reduction

Since 2008, the Saskatchewan Party government has invested over $169 million in targeted, municipal policing initiatives, such as Internet Child Exploitation Units, and Integrated Crime Reduction Teams to help combat gangs and drug trafficking. More than 350 police officers have been added to Saskatchewan cities and communities since 2007 by the provincial government.

Over the last decade, crime has been significantly reduced in Saskatchewan. Since 2007, overall crime in Saskatchewan has decreased by over 14% including reductions of:

  • Violent crime has fallen by 24%;
  • Property crime by 16%; and
  • Youth crime by nearly 57%.

While the rural crime rate has fallen by nearly 10% over the last decade, the Saskatchewan Party government has taken further steps to help reduce the impacts of crime on rural and remote communities. We are proud to have created the Protection and Response Team (PRT), a unit of 258 armed officers to help reduce police response time, and increase police presence in rural areas.

We've strengthened trespassing laws to address the appropriate balance between rural landowners and members of the public by placing the onus on the individual to get permission before accessing land.

The Saskatchewan Party government added an additional 192 frontline RCMP officers to rural communities since 2011, an increase of 24%. With the addition of the PRT officers, there are 42% more officers policing along our highways and in rural communities since 2011

The Saskatchewan Party government has also invested in protecting victims of interpersonal and sexual violence by:

  • Becoming the first jurisdiction in Canada to introduce and implement Clare's Law, a legislative framework for police services to disclose relevant information to individuals who might be at risk of interpersonal violence;
  • Providing victims of "Revenge Porn" the ability to take direct court action against perpetrators which places a reverse onus on perpetrators to prove they had consent to share intimate image; and
  • Allowing survivors of interpersonal violence to break a residential lease.

The Saskatchewan Party remains committed to fighting crime and giving our law enforcement officers the investments and supports they need to keep our communities safe.