Terrace has made the top 20 when it comes to crime severity in cities with populations of more than 10,000 in Canada.
Terrace is 19th on the list for overall crime severity index rate out of the 305 police services policing communities over 10,000 population for 2016, according to the report from StatsCan that came out July 24.
In comparison, in 2015, Terrace was lower on the list at 23rd, meaning less severe crime was taking place here.
The crime severity index includes all criminal code violations including traffic, as well as drug violations and all federal statutes.
Our neighbour Prince Rupert whose population is close to ours – Terrace’s residents number 11,500 and Prince Rupert has 12,460 people – ranks 32nd overall. In 2015, Prince Rupert was in 17th place.
The Police Reported Crime Severity Index (PRCSI) measures changes in the level of severity of crime in Canada from year to year.
In the index, all crimes are assigned a weight based on their seriousness. The level of seriousness is based on actual sentences handed down by the courts in all provinces and territories.
The PRCSI is standardized to 100 in base year 2006.
When the overall crime severity index value is considered, Canada is at 71, and B.C. is at 93.6, putting it in 7th place compared to the other 12 provinces and territories.
Terrace is at 147.46 and Prince Rupert is at 121.14.
The top 10 crime severity index ranking of all cities with more than 10,000 people includes two B.C. cities, Williams Lake and Langley City.
In order from highest to lowest, the top 10 are
1. North Battleford, Saskatchewan;
2. Thompson, Manitoba;
3. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan;
4. Williams Lake, B.C.;
5. Red Deer, Alberta
6. Yellowknife, Northwest Territories;
7. Langley City, B.C.;
8. Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
9. Rocky Mountain House, Alberta;
10. Wetaskiwin, Alberta.