Crime Severity Was Down in 2017

Robert Thomas

Whether it is a temporary change or an actual trend, both violent and non-violent crime was down in 2O17 from 2016 but are still up from 2013 levels.

Statistics Canada just released the annual Crime Severity Indexes for Moose Jaw and the rest of the country. The Crime Severity Index is not the Crime Rate but is a weighted index which takes into account not only the change in volume of a particular crime, but also the relative seriousness of that crime in comparison to other crimes.

For Moose Jaw, 2017 saw drops in the Crime Severity Index from 116.99 in 2016 to 107.49 in 2017 or a year over year drop of 8.12 percent. In 2013 the Crime Severity Index was 97.62, meaning that, despite the drop this year the index is up over 10 percent when comparing 2013 to 2017.

The Violent Crime Severity Index in 2017 was 72.78 compared to 2016 when it was 88.48 or a year over year drop of 17.74 percent. In 2013 the Violent Crime Severity Index was 44.93 or approximately an 80 percent increase in four years.

The Non Violent Crime Severity Index was 119.72 in 3017 compared to 126.97 in 2016 or a 5.71 percent decrease from 2016 to 2017. In 2013 the Non Violent Crime Severity Index was 116.60 meaning just over a two percent increase in four years.