Essex County Safest Communities In Canada

Five municipalities in Essex County are among the top seven safest communities in all of Canada. Amherstburg ranks the safest, with LaSalle, Kingsville, Tecumseh and Lakeshore right behind. Amherstburg police chief Tim Berthiaume says the town has always be known as a safe place. "I think it's the combination of the hard working men and women of the Amherstburg Police Service," he says. "And I think the citizens of Amherstburg are to be credited. It's people reporting crime. I attribute it to people cooperating with police." By having fewer serious calls to deal with, it allows the police force to focus on other things. Berthiaume says the No. 1 complaint among residents is traffic concerns. "So that's where we concentrate a lot of our efforts when we're not responding to calls for service," he adds. Just because you're the safest community in the country doesn't mean there aren't areas of concern. "Right now we're experiencing an increase in our break-and-enters for the year 2015," Berthiaume says. Stats Canada recently released the numbers based on the severity of crimes in each community per 100,000 people. Police-reported crime in Windsor also dropped 3% last year compared to 2013.