Last year, Oak Bay’s crime severity index (CSI) score dropped to its lowest since 2020, following a two-year increase.
Used to measure both the volume and severity of police-reported crime in an area, the Statistics Canada metric addresses the limitations of the conventional crime rate, which simply calculates the number of crimes for every 100,000 people.
In 2024, the district’s CSI hit 23.63, down by 22.95 per cent from the year before.
Oak Bay logged its highest CSI over the last five years – 30.67 – in 2023.
The district saw 18.16 and 26.01 violent and non-violent crime severity indexes last year, both of which factor into the district’s CSI. These metrics dropped by 35.6 and 18.49 per cent between 2023 and 2024, respectively.
With a 37.19 score last year, Saanich also saw its CSI reach a five-year low.
Central Saanich, Sidney and North Saanich logged 25.50, 58.79 and 35.59 CSI scores in 2024, respectively.
Though Victoria’s CSI decreased by 10.5 per cent last year, affected primarily by a 17.5 per cent dip in its non-violent crime severity index, the Victoria Police Department, which also oversees Esquimalt, logged the highest CSI of municipal police departments province-wide.
“Our downtown core sees a high level of activity, and this concentration of activity influences our overall crime statistics compared to other municipalities,” VicPD said in a news release.
B.C. saw its CSI hit 92.98 last year – the lowest it has been since 2020.
Among the provinces and territories, B.C. logged the seventh highest score, while Northwest Territories' 526.92 CSI took the top spot.
Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Nina Krieger called the province’s 2024 results “encouraging.”
“This progress reflects the continued efforts by the B.C. government, First Nations and local governments, police services, community organizations and businesses to work together to build safer communities,” she said in a news release.
"We are seeing the positive impacts of new provincial programs to strengthen public safety, such as expanded integrated response teams and targeted enforcement against repeat violent offenders and organized crime. For example, in British Columbia, violent firearm offences dropped by 20 per cent, homicides dropped 24 per cent, robbery dropped by 8 per cent and mischief dropped by 4 per cent."
Krieger, however, acknowledged "there are specific areas where we need to renew our focus."
“There is much more to do and we’re going to keep working hard to make sure people in British Columbia can build a good life in safe, healthy communities," she added.
Canada’s CSI dropped by 4.08 per cent to 77.89 in 2024, following a three-year increase.
The Oak Bay Police Department was approached for comment.
