[SIZE="3"]A new study suggests children are much more likely to be the victims of violent crime in Saint John than anywhere else in Canada.

The Statistics Canada study says there were reports of [B][COLOR="Red"]2,075 [/COLOR][/B]child and youth victims of violence per 100,000 in Saint John in 2008.

[B][COLOR="Blue"]That's higher than the 31 other cities in the study and almost double the national average.[/COLOR][/B]

But Statistics Canada's definition of violent crimes against youth under 18 covers a wide range of offences — from threats and pushing, to aggravated assaults and sexual crimes — said Deputy Chief Bruce Connell of the Saint John police department.

He said the police force's records show most crimes reported against youth are the least serious types of common assaults, such as [B]slapping[/B] and [B]threats[/B] — sometimes by adults, sometimes by their peers.

"We're certainly strategizing how we can reduce the calls for service and put things in place with our partners to curb some of these activities," Connell said.

[B]Numbers may be positive[/B]

Saint John Coun. Gary Sullivan said the city's numbers are not necessarily bad. They are based on the number of incidents reported to police, which could be a good sign, he said.

"Some of the data, not all of it, but some of it could be attributed to the fact that the relationship our police force has with our community means they are hearing more."

The study's author, Lucie Ogrodnik of the Canadian Centre For Justice Statistics, notes that about 80 per cent of violence against youth goes unreported, making it impossible to know how safe any Canadian city really is, regardless of the rate of reporting.

In 2008, more than 75,000 Canadian children and youths were crime victims, according to the 31-page study, titled Child and Youth Victims of Police-reported Violent Crime, 2008. That means 1,111 out of every 100,000 people were considered to be victims of violence.

The rate of violence against children and youth under 18 tends to increase as children get older, the study found. The lowest rate of violence was reported for children under three years of age, while teens aged 15 to 17 reported the highest rate of violence among all age groups.

Physical assaults were the most common type of police-reported violence against children and youth, with nearly 42,000 physical assaults reported to police in 2008.[/SIZE]

看你怎么看， 这位官员的智慧和中国的有一比

Numbers may be positive

Saint John Coun. Gary Sullivan said the city's numbers are not necessarily bad. They are based on the number of incidents reported to police, which could be a good sign, he said.

"Some of the data, not all of it, but some of it could be attributed to the fact that the relationship our police force has with our community means they are hearing more."