Crime in Calgary has taken a dive, according to the latest crime severity numbers from Statistics Canada released Tuesday.
The city’s crime severity index (CSI) for 2024 shows a 14.9 per cent decline from 2023, down to an index of 63.27, which is the lowest number since 2014.
According to StatCan, the CSI is a summary measure of the volume and severity of police-reported crime in an area, whether a city, province, territory, or the country.
There were 77,002 reported incidents of crime in 2024, the lowest since 2017. The lowest number in 15 years was in 2012 wth 53,461 incidents reported. However, unreported crimes are not included in the data.
When it comes to Calgary’s violent CSI, it sits at 78.53, a nearly 10 per cent change from 2023–the lowest since 2016 when it was 66.52.
The city’s index is also lower than Alberta’s CSI of 95, though that number is a drop from 2023’s 104.87.
The Calgary Police Service (CPS) says the lower CSI is due to a drop in homicides, sex offences, and robberies, as “targeted interventions and proactive enforcement continue to make a tangible difference.”
Meanwhile, Calgary police chief Katie McLellan was pleased with the numbers, saying they are “indicative of what we are seeing with our overall data.”
“What the data is telling us is that our efforts to increase our policing presence across the city combined with our early-integration and intervention programs are making a difference,” she said in a release.
“The key moving forward will be to continue bolstering our presence to ensure Calgarians feel safe everywhere in our city.”
While the numbers were promising for police, there was an increase in hate crimes, with 211 being reported in 2024–a 42 per cent increase from 2023.
However, Kay Choi with the City of Calgary’s Community Safety and Wellbeing Priority says the rise is due in part to increased reporting.
“It’s encouraging that more people are stepping forward. Silence is no longer acceptable,” she said.
“Reporting these crimes is essential if we want to address them head-on. It shows that people trust the system and expect better.”
Several offences have seen a decline from 2023, such as breaking and entering (25 per cent decline), possession of stolen property (27 per cent decline), and vehicle thefts (15 per cent decline).
However, there have been other upward trends. Weapon violations are up nearly 50 per cent since 2020, identity theft is up 13 per cent, and disturbing the peace jumped to 175 incidents compared to 151 in 2023 and 60 in 2020.
Calgary also saw an increase in animal cruelty incidents, up to 64 in 2024 from only nine in 2022.