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Hanover Police Service saw a lower crime rate in the town last year.
In 2025, the number of incidents was significantly lower than the year prior, dropping to 532 incidents, compared to the previous year’s 748 incidents.
Chief Chris Knoll shared that the 30 percent difference was thanks in part to the community support the department receives from the municipal government and residents.
“We saw a lot of good proactive work. Our officers are engaged, we’re focused,” said Knoll in an interview with Bayshore News. “I like to say that we do good investigations, we do good follow-ups, we follow our leads, and we hold those that are responsible for crime to account, and I think that’s an important piece, because it goes towards crime suppression.”
Aside from proactive programs, particularly partnerships with the Canadian Mental Health Association and local school boards, have been helpful in preventing crimes.
“Some of the work we’ve (also) done with the proactive work is bail compliance checks,” said Knoll, who posts on his social media page for Wanted Wednesdays. “We’re tracking down those people that are wanted and who have missed court dates, and we’ve had some really good successful engagement programs along the way as well.”
Over the past year, the Hanover Police Service also achieved a great solve rate that ended up being 75 percent above the provincial average.
Despite having such positive accomplishments in 2025, Knoll said that he’s hoping that the police service is able to improve further, with more community initiatives to help with solving crimes, and preventing them overall.
“I think we have to, in the future, continue to work towards more proactive work, higher visibility,” he said. “I think you’ll see that in the coming years. We’re building a new police station right in the downtown core of the Town of Hanover, so we’ll be right in the core. You’ll see an increased presence, obviously in that core. That area seems to drive a good portion of our work, so I think that’s an important piece as well.”
Knoll added that the Hanover Police Service wants to focus on community initiatives like CamSafe, where residents register their home surveillance cameras, that will help police solve crimes that might later take place in their neighbourhoods by letting them know who has a camera that may have been witness to an event.