Cloverdale鈥檚 property crime rates are going down, and RCMP Sgt. Winston Shorey said that鈥檚 an encouraging trend from the past.

鈥淚 always bring positive numbers to us, and that鈥檚 good,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you look at the cumulative effect over the last couple years, the numbers are very encouraging.鈥�

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Business break and enters over the last quarter (April to June) are down about 19 per cent since last year, Sgt. Shorey said. Last year, there were 49 business break and enters in the same quarter, down 13 per cent from 2015.

The crime statistics for the second quarter of this year won鈥檛 be available until late July.

In June of this year, there were 12 business break and enters, with a slight concentration along Highway 10 between 188th Street and 196th Street.

Residential break and enters were more prevalent in Cloverdale, with 27 recorded in June 2017. However, the overall numbers for the quarter are down 13 per cent since last year, Sgt. Shorey said. Last year, there were 78 residential break and enters, the same as 2015.

Robbery, a typical indicator of violent crime in a community, has also gone down exponentially. Last year, there were 16 robberies by the end of the second quarter; so far this year, Sgt. Shorey said, there have been seven. Two of those happened between June 1 and June 30.

Another significant crime that has decreased so far this year is auto theft, 鈥渨hich is good, because we were having some issues with that last year,鈥� Sgt. Shorey said. It has decreased nine per cent this year.

Most of the auto thefts in Cloverdale are concentrated between 188th street and 196th Street (the Langley border) and 72nd Avenue to Highway 10.

鈥淎 lot of the thefts we鈥檙e seeing there are transitionatory thefts,鈥� Sgt. Shorey said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e either coming from Langley, travelling through the area, or moving into Langley and the vehicles are being dropped there.鈥�

The only crime rate mentioned in the June map releases that has gone up is theft from vehicles, 鈥渁s it always has been over the last couple of years,鈥� he said.

In June 2017 alone there were nearly 100 thefts. In the second quarter of 2016, there were 357 thefts, up 50 per cent from 2015.

鈥淭his is a crime of opportunity, so lessen that opportunity and you鈥檙e less likely to be victimized,鈥� Sgt. Shorey said.

He advised drivers be vigilant in removing their personal belongings from their vehicles, especially during the summer months.