However, these numbers only tell part of the story. Unfortunately, many crimes are not reported to police. A 2004 Criminal Victimization Study conducted by Stats Canada shows that 53 percent of robberies are not reported to police. The study also found that theft of household property was up 42 percent between 2000 and 2004.
Unreported crime because of fear?
In many cases, victims do not report crimes out of fear or because they feel the crime is too trivial to report. Some feel that law enforcement will not be able to catch the criminal and thus there is no point in reporting the crime. Data from the United States presents similar findings of unreported crime. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that only about 40 percent of property crimes were reported to the police in 2008.Only 33 percent of violent crimes are reported in Canada whereas about half of all violent crimes are reported in the United States.