(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Crime Stats

Prince Albert named one of Canada’s most dangerous cities

Nov 20, 2019 | 12:00 PM

According to a recent article by Maclean’s magazine, Prince Albert is the sixth most dangerous city in Canada.

The ranking was based on the 2018 crime severity index (CSI), which measures the number of crimes per 100,000 population. The CSI accounts for the seriousness of crimes by considering conviction rates and sentence lengths. Police Chief Jon Bergen explained to paNOW when you look at the ranking you need to consider how it is being measured.

“Often those measures are tied to population and our population from census studies in 2016 shows just under 36,000. We know that doesn’t represent the community we serve. We know we serve a community with a retail population of closer to 190,000 and that’s been published by the city,” he said.

The past two years Prince Albert was ranked third most dangerous city by the magazine. Mayor Greg Dionne told paNOW he was happy to hear the city’s ranking had improved but added he knew the numbers were being driven by drugs.

“I just came from a justice conference in Saskatoon where they told us now Crystal Meth is now selling for $3 a hit. No wonder we have a drug problem with meth and meth has taken over cocaine and heroine,” he said.

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According to the police service’s October crime statistics, there have been 166 charges laid to date this year related to possession and trafficking of drugs. This compared to 142 for the same time period in 2018.

“It’s a priority of the board [of police commissioners] and the police service next year. Our two targets next year are drugs and gangs because they are related,” he said.

Three other Saskatchewan cities made the Maclean’s list: Yorkton (17), Lloydminster (12) and North Battleford (1).

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell