Part 1 of an ongoing series
Prince George leads B.C.'s biggest municipalities in the frequency and severity of crime, according to an analysis of 24 years of Statistics Canada data.
Prince George, Victoria, Vancouver, Chilliwack and New Westminster have the highest average Crime Severity Index scores among the 20 largest municipalities in the province. On the other end of the spectrum, the District of Saanich, District of North Vancouver, and cities of Delta, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam were the safest communities on the list.
Statistics Canada has produced annual Crime Severity Index reports since 1998. The index ranks the amount and seriousness of crime in a community, on a per capital basis, against an average score of 100.
We averaged the annual Crime Severity Index scores for B.C.’s 20 largest municipalities from 1998 to 2021 to rank them from most dangerous to safest:
1) City of Prince George: 191.36 (Highest: 250.26 in 2019, Lowest: 129.4 in 2014, Years above 100: 24/100%)
2) City of Victoria: 176.03 (Highest: 277.58 in 1998, Lowest: 101.24 in 2013, Years above 100: 24/100%)
3) City of Vancouver: 148.95 (Highest: 263.63 in 1998, Lowest: 90.11 in 2021, Years above 100: 23/96%)
4) City of Chilliwack: 148.19 (Highest: 209.84 in 2003, Lowest: 103 in 2013, Years above 100: 24/100%)
5) City of New Westminster: 144.17 (Highest: 274.55 in 1998, Lowest: 71.43 in 2017, Years above 100: 16/67%)
6) City of Kelowna: 139.66 (Highest: 200.09 in 2004, Lowest: 99.47 in 2013, Years above 100: 23/96%)
7) City of Naniamo: 138.55 (Highest: 190.51 in 1998, Lowest: 96.44 in 2015, Years above 100: 22/92%)
8) City of Kamloops: 137.41 (Highest: 190.92 in 2003, Lowest: 98.14 in 2015, Years above 100: 23/96%)
9) City of Surrey: 136.16 (Highest: 186.96 in 1998, Lowest: 86.98 in 2021, Years above 100: 20/83%)
10) City of Burnaby: 120.4 (Highest: 191.78 in 1998, Lowest: 74.93 in 2017, Years above 100: 13/54%)
11) City of Maple Ridge: 115.95 (Highest: 165.15 in 2002, Lowest: 76.92 in 2017, Years above 100: 14/58%)
12) Township of Langley: 109.44 (Highest: 144.83 in 2002, Lowest: 78.02 in 2021, Years above 100: 14/58%)
13) City of North Vancouver: 103.59 (Highest: 160.52 in 1999, Lowest: 68.92 in 2014, Years above 100: 12/50%)
14) City of Abbotsford: 102.7 (Highest: 162.22 in 2004, Lowest: 71.04 in 2020, Years above 100: 12/50%)
15) City of Richmond: 100.64 (Highest: 140.54 in 2003, Lowest: 75.89 in 2015, Years above 100: 12/50%)
16) City of Port Coquitlam: 97.76 (Highest: 163.2 in 2002, Lowest: 57.83 in 2018, Years above 100: 10/42%)
17) City of Coquitlam: 91.4 (Highest: 141.73 in 2003, Lowest: 54.07 in 2018, Years above 100: 10/42%)
18) City of Delta: 72.65 (Highest: 97.48 in 1998, Lowest: 52.4 in 2017, Years above 100: 0/0%)
19) District of North Vancouver: 57.85 (Highest: 91.31 in 1998, Lowest: 38.09 in 2021, Years above 100: 0/0%)
20) District of Saanich: 57.7 (Highest: 90.83 in 1998, Lowest: 36.79 in 2017, Years above 100: 0/0%)
Trends
While the Crime Severity Index provides a snapshot of one year, averaging those scores over the 24 years data is available gives a big-picture view of what is happening in terms of crime in the province. British Columbia's average score over the 24-year period was 118.77.
Across B.C., crime has been on a general downward trend since the late 1990s. From 1998 to 2010, B.C.’s Crime Severity Index score was consistently above 100. Since 2011, the province’s score has only been above 100 once (104.28 in 2019).
The province's highest score over the 24-year-period was 166.91 in 1998 and the lowest was 87.14 in 2017.
The majority of B.C.’s largest municipalities reflect similar trends, with 18 of the 20 communities having their highest score in the first five years of the data (1998 to 2003) and 12 of the 20 having their lowest score within in the last five years (2017 to 2021).
What is the Severity Crime Index?
According to Statistics Canada, the Crime Severity Index is a tool to measure the level of severity of crime in Canada, and Canadian provinces and municipalities, from year to year.
All Criminal Code of Canada violations, including traffic and drug violations, and all federal statutes are counted, and assigned a weight, based on the seriousness of the crime. The base score is 100, based on the national average in 2006, and is calculated on a per capita basis.
A score above 100 indicates crime above that 2006 average, while a score below 100 indicates crime levels below that average.
“More serious crimes are assigned higher weights, less serious offences lower weights. As a result, more serious offences have a greater impact on changes in the index,” according to Statistics Canada’s website.
