Rocky Mtn. House makes top 10 on Crime Severity Index
The province saw a large increase when it came to the Crime Severity Index (CSI) last year, but for the first time Rocky Mountain House made it onto the list.
In 2016, the index rated Rocky at number nine in the country.
The Crime Severity Index is a national rating that takes into account not only the change in volume of a particular crime, but also the relative seriousness of that crime in comparison to others. Statistics Canada says it is used to help determine whether crime coming to the attention of police is more or less serious than before and if police-reported crime in a given city, town or province more or less serious than in Canada overall.
Rocky Mtn. House Staff Sergeant Mark Groves says the local increase is due to the geographical area his detachment covers, and because the report classified the Rocky Mountain House detachment in the 10,000 population category.
“With that diverse type aspect to our detachment it just showed that you know we had numerous stabbings in certain areas,” he said. “We had several shootings, we had a good number of sexual assaults, and with the seriousness of those crimes it elevated our statistics up in the CSI.”