Calgary sees big decline in crime severity, now well below the national average

Alberta's crime severity index — a measure used by Statistics Canada to track the seriousness of crime across the country — fell sharply in 2024, while Calgary's index reached a near-historic low.

"Crime was nine-per-cent less severe in Alberta in 2024 than it was in 2023," said Warren Silver, an analyst with StatsCan, which released the new figures Tuesday.

He attributes the drop to fewer break-and-enters, thefts and sexual assaults across the province.

"And additionally there were 19 fewer homicides in Alberta than the previous year," Silver said.

The crime severity index for Calgary, specifically, fell by 14 per cent to 62.3.

That's now well below the national average of 77.9, which marks a notable turnaround from five years earlier, when the city was well above the national average.

Calgary's index is also near its lowest point ever recorded, which was 61.1 in 2014.

Insp. Travis Juska with the Calgary Police Service says those numbers are encouraging, but he recognizes not all Calgarians necessarily feel safer.

"Just because we've seen a decrease in certain amounts of property crime or violent crime, doesn't mean that a Calgarian might feel safe or unsafe in a setting that they are somewhere in the city," he said.

The StatsCan data shows crime rates (measured in terms of incidents per 100,000 people) are generally down across most types of offences in Calgary.

But the rate of violent crime, while down from 2023, remains significantly higher than it was at its low point in 2013.

Crime severity also dropped significantly in Lethbridge, falling 19 per cent year-over-year to an index score of 105.5.

Mayor Blaine Hyggen attributed the downward trend to recent investments in the city's police service, including 26 new police officers and four new peace officers who were sworn in last year.

Lethbridge Police Service Deputy Chief Gerald Grobmeier said the city saw reductions in break and enters, mischief, and car theft, in particular.

Red Deer also saw a big drop in its crime severity index, which was down 20 per cent year-over-year to 118.7.

Edmonton, meanwhile, was down five per cent to 101.1.

Despite these decreases, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Edmonton remained on the higher end of crime severity across the 40 cities that Statistics Canada tracks.

The overall crime severity index for Alberta remained the third-highest of all the provinces, at 95.6.

Only Manitoba, at 141.2, and Saskatchewan, at 153.9, were higher.

StatsCan calculates the index by assigning all police-reported crimes a weight based on their seriousness, which is determined by actual sentences handed down by courts. More serious crimes are assigned higher weights, less serious offences are assigned lower weights.

The year 2006 is taken as a baseline and assigned a national index score of 100.