Prince Albert Police vehicle. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

National Statistics

The benefits and problems of the annual Crime Severity Index

Feb 28, 2024 | 3:00 PM

Is Statistics Canada’s annual Crime Severity Index (CSI) report unfair to smaller communities?

That’s what’s set to be discussed at a conference in Saskatoon organized by the City of North Battleford.

The community received the highest score in 2023 among communities with at least 10,000 people, however, leaders believe the statistics are misleading since the report compares areas that have very different populations.

Prince Albert will be one of the 11 communities taking part in the conference. A representative from the Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) will be in attendance.

Police Chief Patrick Nogier told paNOW he doesn’t believe the report tells the entire story.

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“In 2021 and 2022, we had 10 and nine homicides respectively and we know that the way the Crime Severity Index is designed that it would automatically correspond with violent crime results. What that doesn’t tell you though is how those were related to public safety,” he said.

Nogier explained it also doesn’t share whether crimes were solved or not.

He also went on to say the report does have some value, at least for law enforcement.

“I think there’s a lot of things you can look at for commonalities and similarities between those different areas,” he said.

Nogier mentioned the projections also help confirm which crimes continue to be a problem and need more resources.

Meanwhile, PAPS is hoping this meeting will dive into the common trends and initiatives other communities are currently doing to address their crime, though they’re not holding their breath.

Despite this, Nogier said it’s important they still take part.

“We need to be at the table whenever you have external partners that are having discussions in this context.”

The meeting is set to happen on Thursday. At this time, the City of North Battleford isn’t sharing who the other communities are to take part.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow