Langley City is the most dangerous city in Metro Vancouver – and 6th most dangerous city in Canada – according to a new report by Macleans.
The report ranks communities according to the Crime Severity Index (CSI), a Statistics Canada measure of all police-reported crime.
The stats take into consideration both the volume and seriousness of offences; the 2016 data, the most current available, was released July 24, 2017.
535 assaults per 100,000 people
Macleans found Langley City had only one homicide in 2016, which extrapolates to a homicide rate of 3.59 per 100,000 population.
In terms of reported assault, there were 149 incidents in Langley City in 2016, leading to an assault rate of 535.32 per 100,000 population.
Both these rates were up down from 2015, but were still above the Canadian national average of 1.68 for homicide and 430.68 for assault.
There were 23 sexual assaults reported in 2016 in Langley City, meaning the rate of reported sexual assaults there is 82.63 per 100,000 residents.
Since it is often difficult for sexual assault survivors to come forward, it is not clear whether the rate of sexual assaults in Langley City is higher than elsewhere.
It may be a greater proportion of survivors are coming forward in Langley City than in the rest of Canada. The Canadian average is 56.56 sexual assault reports per 100,000 people.
43 robberies, 377 break and enters
As for theft, there were 43 robberies in Langley City in 2016, meaning there is a robbery rate of 154.49 per 100,000 residents there.
Langley City RCMP also saw 377 break and enters in 2016, leading to a breaking and entering rate of 1,354.46 per 100,000 population.
However, Langley City wasn’t the most dangerous city in BC, according to the report. Williams Lake, between Prince George and Kamloops, took that spot.
Interestingly, Whistler had the most dangerous ranking in BC, if you filter only for impaired driving, with 128 incidents in 2016.
That’s an impaired driving rate of 1,117.71 per 100,000 population.
Overall, the most dangerous city in Canada was named as North Battleford in Saskatchewan, some 400 km northwest of Regina.
Most dangerous cities in BC
Source: Macleans, Metro Vancouver cities and surrounds are bolded
- Williams Lake
- Langley City
- Vernon
- Prince George
- Terrace
- Penticton
- Dawson Creek
- Chilliwack
- Port Alberni
- Kamloops
- Fort St John
- Prince Rupert
- Victoria
- Surrey
- Kelowna
- Vancouver
- Nanaimo
- Mission
- North Cowichan
- Campbell River
- Courtenay
- Langley Township
- Whistler
- Maple Ridge
- Abbotsford
- Parksville
- Nelson
- White Rock
- North Vancouver City
- Squamish
- New Westminster
- Burnaby
- Richmond
- Port Coquitlam
- Cranbrook
- Coquitlam
- Pitt Meadows
- Powell River
- Lake Country
- Summerland
- West Kelowna
- Langford
- Delta
- West Vancouver
- Salmon Arm
- View Royal
- North Vancouver District
- Coldstream
- Port Moody
- Saanich
- Sidney
- Central Saanich
- Colwood
- Oak Bay
- Comox
- North Saanich