Two Alberta cities rank wildly high on new Crime Severity Index list

If you thought crime in some parts of Alberta was high, you weren’t imagining it — a new report has revealed two cities are well above the national average.

According to police-reported crime statistics in Canada, as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI), crime increased nationwide for the third consecutive year, up 2% in 2023.

Most provinces and territories recorded increases in the CSI from 2022 to 2023. The exceptions were Alberta (-2%), Manitoba (-1%), New Brunswick (-1%), and Nova Scotia (-1%).

Canada’s CSI in 2023 was 80.5, with Calgary below the national and provincial average at 71, followed by Edmonton at 105. The index in Alberta in 2023 was 103.

The two Albertan cities with the highest CSI were Lethbridge, with an index of 129.1 and Red Deer, with a whopping 146.9.

Just two other spots in Canada bested Red Deer on the Crime Severity Index, with Chilliwack landing an index of 156.2 and Kamloops with an index of 165.3.

Lethbridge and Winnipeg’s identical score of 129.1 landed them fourth-highest on the index nationwide.

Vancouver produced an index of 90.2, while Toronto and Montreal put up indexes of 58.5 and 63.2, respectively.

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Statistics Canada says Crime Severity Indexes are based on Criminal Code incidents, including traffic offences and other federal statute violations. Populations are based on July 1 estimates from Statistics Canada’s Centre for Demography.

The violent CSI remained virtually unchanged (0.4%) in 2023, following a 13% cumulative increase over the previous two years.

Police reported 778 homicides nationwide in 2023, a 14.34% decrease compared to 2022.