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By Alessia Proietti

+2.71 per cent

Red Deer’s crime severity index increases slightly in 2021

Aug 5, 2022 | 12:18 PM

Red Deer’s crime severity index (CSI) increased in 2021, according to a recent report by Statistics Canada (StatCan).

The CSI measures the changes in the level of severity of crime in Canada, its provinces and territories every year. All crimes are assigned a weight based on their seriousness which is itself based on actual sentences handed down by associated courts.

The CSI for Red Deer’s municipal police services, which includes all Criminal Code violations, was reported at 176.39 in 2021, up 2.71 per cent from its index in 2020 at 171.74.

Red Deer RCMP Superintendent Holly Glassford says while it is important to look at year over year statistics, they do not always show the whole picture. She says overall, the city has seen a significant decrease when comparing the CSI of 2016 at 210.66 and 2017 at 222.81.

“Property crime is certainly one of our biggest contributors to the Red Deer CSI. The non-violent crime which includes break and enters assessed under $5,000 and fraud,” she said.

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The non- violent CSI, including traffic, drug violations and federal statutes, in 2021 was 176.24, down 2.11 per cent from 180.04 in 2020.

The violent CSI, which includes crimes like uttering threats, criminal harassment and forcible confinement, increased by 19.03 per cent, from 147.57 in 2020 to 175.65 in 2021. According to the StatCan table dating back to 1998, this index has seen sharp fluctuations, like a 23.44 per cent decrease in 2018 to a 40.67 per cent increase the following year.

“I want all of Red Deerians to know that we are committed to crime reduction in the community,” she said. “Our ultimate goal would be to prevent crime form happening in the first place.”

Supt. Holly Glassford states crime reduction continues to be a priority on the annual police plan with initiatives in place like the CAPTURE program of voluntary camera registry, the 529 Garage bike registry to deter theft, and the 2016 POINPOINT program to target crime hotspots.

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“Everyone in the community can help. All community members are an important part of ensuring crime prevention in their city,” she said. “If you see something suspicious, call the police. Sometimes, it may not result in an immediate arrest or a Criminal Code charge but all of that information provided to us is valuable and it helps us and our crime analysts to determine some of the hotspots and ultimately preventing future crimes.”

Red Deer had a larger CSI than its similar sized counterpart, Lethbridge.

Lethbridge was measured on two different categories.

In 2016, Lethbridge became a Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). According to StatCan, a CMA consists of one or more neighboring municipalities located around a major urban core. Its population is over 100,000 with 50,000 or more living in the urban core. As well, other connecting municipalities must have a high degree of integration with the central urban area and the CMA typically contains more than one police service.

The City of Red Deer had a larger population than Lethbridge in 2021, 104,392 and 101,799 respectively, according to the Government of Alberta. However, according to StatCan, the larger municipalities surrounding Lethbridge that frequently integrate with its urban core allowed it to enter into the CMA category, rendering the total population at 127,831.

Among the 35 CMAs, Lethbridge was ranked number one in Canada with a CSI of 128.65.

Looking at the municipality of Lethbridge, without its CMA status, left it with a CSI of 148.93.

The provincial average in Alberta was 101.4, and the national average was 73.7.