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Fort St. James tops crime stats list

New stats from StatCan mark the fourth year crime severity index has increased
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Of the 181 police jurisdictions in B.C. for which crime statistics are available, Fort St. James had the highest crime severity index.

It’s not an honour, but Fort St. James received a high rating in a recent Statistics Canada (StatCan) release.

For the fourth year in a row, the Fort saw an increase in its crime severity index (CSI) and its non-violent crime severity index (NVCSI). The violent crime severity index (VCSI), on the other hand, saw a decline for the fourth year in a row.

Data released by Statistics Canada (StatCan) July 25 indicate the CSI for 2021 was 293.52 compared to 284.43 in 2020 and 185.65 in 2017.

The VCSI was down from 329.90 in 2020 to 325.05 while the NVCSI increased to 281.49 in 2021 from 267.41 in 2020

For comparison, Vanderhoof’s CSI in 2021 was 124.82, VCSI was 161.62 and NVCSI was 111.29. Prince George reported a CSI of 223.92 for the same period, a VCSI of 239.57 and NVCSI of 217.76

Of the 181 police jurisdictions in B.C. for which 2021 police-reported statistics are now available, Fort St. James ranked first in CSI, fourth in VCSI and first in NVCSI, close to the 2020 rankings of first, fifth and second respectively. Vanderhoof ranked 45th in CSI, 38th in VCSI and 47th in NVCSI

For the province as a whole, the CSI was down by 4.61 per cent and the NVCSI decreased 7.55 per cent, The VCSI, however, jumped 4.32.

Smaller municipalities have always been skeptical of the meaningfulness of the crime severity indices noting that a single murder, for example, or a particularly troublesome hospital patient, can skew the numbers dramatically for a town of only 5,300 people and in any given year might not necessarily reflect the overall safety of the community.

StatCan acknowledges that taken discreetly, the numbers can be misleading, but maintains they are useful in tracking crime trends and the relative safety of communities.

“The Crime Severity Index is also a tool for measuring the increase or decrease in the severity of crime over time in any given jurisdiction, such as provinces and territories, and for comparing the seriousness of crime among jurisdictions,” an article on the StatCan website states.

“Over time, police-reported crime rates have generally been higher in the west and north than in eastern and central regions of the country. This is also true for crime severity, as measured by the new Crime Severity Index.”

The top 10 among all reporting police jurisdictions in B.C. were: Fort St. James (rural), Hope (rural), Quesnel, Prince George, Agassiz (rural), Williams Lake, Merritt, Port Hardy (rural), Penticton and Northern Rockies (rural).

B.C.’s big cities, Kelowna, Vancouver, Abbotsford-Mission and Victoria ranked second, 10th, 13th and 18th respectively.

Nearly 40 per cent of police-reported crimes in Canada are theft under $5,000 and mischief. The calculation of the severity indices gives lesser weight to these types of crimes and more to violent and serious crimes.



Thom Barker

About the Author: Thom Barker

After graduating with a geology degree from Carleton University and taking a detour through the high tech business, Thom started his journalism career as a fact-checker for a magazine in Ottawa in 2002.
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