EDITOR'S NOTE: Collingwood is not listed in the crime severity index because it isn't big enough to qualify as a Census Metropolitan Area, which must have a population of 100,000 people, 50,000 of whom must live in the urban core. Barrie is the closest Census Metropolitan Area listed on the crime severity index report from Statistics Canada.
The Barrie area is one of Canada’s very safest, according to the latest crime severity index (CSI).
As part of a Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) that includes portions of Springwater Township and Innisfil, Barrie had a CSI of 48.05 last year, according to Statistics Canada.
CSI measures the overall seriousness of crime from one year to the next, according to the federal agency, by tracking both the prevalence of crime within a community and the seriousness of the crimes committed.
“Among the CMAs, Barrie ranks the lowest for the crime severity index in 2023,” said Carter Mann, Statistics Canada’s chief of media relations.
Barrie’s CMA was followed by Saguenay, Que., with a CSI of 51, Sherbrooke, Que., with a CSI of 52.2, Saint John, N.B. at 52.7, and Quebec City at 52.9.
Ottawa, Canada’s capital, came next with a CSI of 54.1.
Barrie’s CSI increased by about two per cent from 2022 to 2023, the same rate as the nation’s, which had a CSI of 80.5 last year.
“As mentioned in the report,” Mann said, “the CSI is not intended to be used in isolation or as a universal indicator of an area's overall safety. It is best understood in a broad context with other information on community safety and crime, as well as other characteristics, such as population and demographics, labour market conditions and activities, employment and income, and housing and families.”
Other notable CSIs are Toronto at 58.5, Hamilton at 59.5, Vancouver at 90.2 and Edmonton at 105.
Dave Hossack, a faculty member of the human services and community safety department with Georgian College’s Orillia campus, was also a Barrie city police officer for close to 32 years. He said there are few concrete conclusions that can be drawn from the crime severity index.
“It can be used both ways,” he said. “If the crime severity index for a certain community goes up, for example, it can be an indicator to the municipality or the police that there’s things they have to focus more resources on.
“But on the other hand, if it’s down … it can have little to do with how effective the police service is," Hossack added.
Statistics Canada annually reports on the number and type of criminal incidents coming to the attention of police.
This report analyzes changes in police-reported crime rates across the country. To facilitate comparisons among geographic areas as well as over time, police-reported crime has traditionally been expressed as a rate per 100,000 population.
Hossack recalls 2013, when Barrie’s crime severity index dropped by double digits.
“Barrie was one of the safest cities and council, the police services board … the police service was giving themselves a collective pat on the back,” he said. “But this is such a small slice of what’s really going on.”
Hossack also noted that a change in demographics, a population growing older during five years, for example, can have a significant impact on the crime severity index, because younger people tend to commit more crime, especially males.
“The city of Barrie continues to be a safe community,” said Peter Leon, communications co-ordinator for the Barrie Police Service (BPS). “Our efforts reflect a professional approach to proactively detect crime and are a result of the efforts of the members of the (BPS) to identify crimes, investigate and lay the appropriate charges.
“Through evidence-based policing initiatives, as well as community-based awareness programs, crime prevention techniques and increasing public awareness, we can work with our community to reduce crime and harm," he added.
Leon said Barrie is part of a CMA that includes portions of Springwater Township, which is policed by Huronia West OPP, and Innisfil, which is policed by the South Simcoe Police Service. He said Barrie city police can only speak to criminal activity occurring in Barrie.
A CMA consists of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a major urban core, and must have a total population of 100,000, of which 50,000 or more live in the urban core.
Additional statistical information is available by visiting Barrie police's annual report, Leon said, which is available at BPSAnnualReport.ca.
Barrie’s status as a safe community is also highlighted in regular statistical updates to its police service board that reflect the harm levels in this community, Leon said, the most recent update being in May and the next one is scheduled for September.
For more on the CSI, click here.
