The Impact of Ambient Population on Crime Rates in a Resort Community: A Whistler, British Columbia Case Study

• In Event: Fear of Crime in an International Context II

Abstract

Conventional crime rates, usually calculated using official census counts as the denominator, fail to account for an area’s ambient population. Consequently, the risk of crime often seems greater than the actual risk of victimization. For a resort community like Whistler, British Columbia, the host municipality for the 2010 Winter Olympics, fear of crime has the potential to impact negatively on tourism and tourist behaviours. By adjusting the denominator and recalculating the crime rate based on Whistler’s population equivalent, it becomes clear that what originally seems like a high crime rate is in fact in line with the rest of British Columbia. Failing to account for Whistler’s shadow population has implications for policing and for crime rates and their corresponding effect on tourism.

Authors

• Allison Margaret Sara Campbell, Simon Fraser University

• James Bryan Kinney, Simon Fraser University