#003
Newmarket's crime rate is higher. The courthouse helps explain why.
The Police Service Board answered our questions, supplied data and explained why court-related offences matter to Newmarket's number.
Updated Sept. 17Read story →NewmarketStandUp
Ask the question. Get the records. Let people answer.
Newmarket has no shortage of claims, rumours and strong opinions. We are interested in what can actually be shown. We read the records, contact the people involved and update the story when new evidence changes it.
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What changed after we asked.
The most useful stories are not the ones that confirm what we thought at the start. They are the ones that get clearer when someone answers.
Evidence File #003 · Public safety
YRP answered. The courthouse changes how Newmarket's crime rate should be read.
Newmarket's 2025 rate was 5,380 per 100,000, well above York Region. The Police Service Board told us that removing three court-related offence codes would bring Newmarket's rate down to 4,712. The gap does not disappear, but the explanation is very different from the headline alone.
Read Article #003 →4,712Newmarket's 2025 rate per 100,000 if the three court-related offence codes identified by the Police Service Board are excluded.
#002
Five written mayoral inquiries. Four did not file.
Mayor John Taylor answered our questions. The Elections Office supplied the numbers. The Town still does not know why four mayoral inquirers did not file.
Election records receivedRead story →#001
Taylor challenged our housing story. We checked the record.
His point about sewage capacity and years of provincial delay is supported by the core public timeline. The Building Faster Fund still had a separate annual performance test.
Source response checkedRead story →How we work
Simple rules.
No giant methodology manual is needed to understand the basic standard.
1. Get the record.
Start with council reports, budgets, statistics, legislation, filings, public data and other documents that can be checked.
2. Ask the people involved.
Give the institution, official or other source a fair chance to answer. Their response belongs near the top of the story when it matters.
3. Change the story when the facts change.
If a response or new document corrects the picture, update the article. The goal is to get closer to the truth, not defend the first draft.
Still checking
What is not finished yet.
These are questions we are still working on. An open question is not a conclusion.
Campaign finance and candidate participation
Historical filings, campaign resources and first-hand accounts from people who seriously considered running for municipal office.
Newmarket public-safety data
Calls for service, workload inside #1 District, neighbourhood-level patterns where releasable, and what additional 2026 police resources mean locally.
Roads and infrastructure
Which streets are in the worst condition, what is scheduled for repair, what has been delayed and what the Town is spending.
Municipal money
Major projects, contracts, change orders, reserves and long-term operating costs. The aim is to make Town finances understandable without turning every number into a scandal.
Know something we should check?
Send the document, email, photo, council record or question. A tip is a starting point, not proof. We verify before we publish.
About
Built in Newmarket. Focused on Newmarket.
NewmarketStandUp is an independent local civic reporting project founded and edited by Leonardo Carosielli.
The site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Town of Newmarket, York Regional Police, a political party, candidate, developer, lobby group or municipal institution.
We can be critical when the record calls for it. We can also say when an official, department or public body gives a good answer.
That is the point. The story follows the evidence, even when the evidence makes the original question less dramatic.