Break-and-enters have decreased by over 20 per cent throughout Halton Region, while auto theft continues its downward trend from previous highs, as reported in the latest mid-year analysis by Halton Regional Police.
Reported break-and-enters fell by 22 per cent during the first half of 2026 compared to the same timeframe last year, contributing to a wider decrease in crime rates across Burlington, Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills.
Halton police noted a reduction of 87 break-and-enters, aligning with drops in theft, fraud, and mischief as detailed in their 2026 Mid-Year Performance Report.
A total of 6,623 criminal offenses were recorded from January to June this year, down by 900 or 12 per cent from 7,523 during the same period in 2025. When considering population growth, the overall crime rate decreased by 14.6 per cent.
Violent crime saw a significant drop as well, reducing by 18.4 per cent from 1,292 offenses to 1,054. The violent crime rate dropped by 20.9 per cent when accounting for population increases.
Halton police categorize violent crimes as those involving force or threats against individuals and include assault, robbery, homicide, and abduction or confinement.
The number of reported assaults went down by 115 incidents-from 725 to 610-marking a decline of about 16 per cent. Police indicated that this is the lowest six-month tally for assaults since the pandemic-impacted years of 2020 and 2021.
An additional category referred to in the report as “other violent crime” dropped by 24 per cent from 339 offenses to just 257. This category represents roughly one-quarter of all violent crimes in the area.
Property crime also continued its downward trajectory with an overall decrease of 11.4 per cent-from 5,561 offenses during the first half of last year to only 4,929 this year.
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This marks two consecutive years of declines after property crimes had risen for five straight years. The current total is about 22 per cent below the peak figure of 6 354 offenses seen during early 2024.
The report also highlights a steady drop in vehicle thefts-a growing concern for both law enforcement and car owners alike over recent years.
There were 509 reported auto thefts during the first half of 2026-down from 542 during that same period last year-resulting in a six percent reduction in incidents along with a nine percent decrease when factoring population growth into consideration.
The longer-term trends are even more striking. In early 2019 there were just 215 auto thefts reported; however that number surged to 796 incidents within that same timeframe last year before falling significantly again now-a drop of approximately forty percent since hitting that peak according to this report.
While these statistics indicate an overall decline in reported crimes not every aspect moved positively upwards at once though.
Citations for impaired driving increased fourteen percent rising from two hundred fourteen cases up through two hundred forty-four this year alone!
The amount collisions involving motor vehicles also rose slightly four point four percent-from four thousand nine hundred fifty-eight up towards five thousand one hundred seventy-seven total counts recorded recently; meanwhile injury-related accidents dipped just marginally going down from four hundred seventy back down towards four hundred sixty-seven while fatal collisions remained consistent at two occurrences total so far overall!
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