ESTEVAN - Each year, Statistics Canada compiles the crime severity index (CSI).
While it might cause some to roll their eyes, in part due to the complex, weighted nature of the findings, it does create an interesting study of how much crime exists in the area.
It’s not just busy work for Stats Canada’s number crunchers.
In what might be a surprise, Estevan’s CSI value actually rose from approximately 90 in 2019 to 108.27 in 2020. This was despite the fact that we endured pandemic for the final 9 1/2 months of the year, including two months of a lockdown when our crime numbers were understandably lower.
Estevan’s final number was at its highest number since 2015.
The incidents that can weigh heavily on a community’s rating – murder, attempted murder, arson – did not happen here in 2020.
Ironically, our driving force was the non-violent crime. It’s rare to have non-violent crime make that much of a difference. We were 53rd on the CSI list in Canada for 2020, but we were 40th on the non-violent crime index.
The rash of vandalism in the community in the final three months of the year certainly played a role in Estevan’s figure rising to the degree that it did.
People like me typically eat up the information contained in the CSI report. They love to scan the document, see where their community ranks and look at the other data included, such as the clearance rate for a police service.
For a nerd like me, crunching numbers is fun. I like to see a number and try to figure out how it was calculated, to the best of my ability.
But despite my interest in the CSI, I know that the most important thing is whether people face safe in their community.
I know I do. I spend a lot of time walking around the community at night in all seasons, and I’ve never encountered a serious problem. The biggest issue I face would be selfish motorists who have forgotten the simple concept of pedestrians having the right of way.
I’ve never been threatened while out for a walk. I’ve never been the victim of an armed robbery. Nobody has ever tried to take my belongings.
And nobody has ever broken into my car, at least not that I’m aware of.
Yes, I lock the door to my condo every day when I leave for work or when I’m working on my patio or before I go to bed at night. I would never leave my vehicle running with the doors unlocked, but that’s just common sense.
It’s not just an Estevan thing; you’re either really lazy or really clueless if you think you can leave your vehicle that susceptible to a theft in this day and age.
We also have to remember that the crime severity index is not kind to smaller cities. All it takes is one or two serious incidents to skewer the numbers, while in a large city, like Toronto or Montreal, they can have a lot of more serious crimes before their CSI soars.
If you’ve walked in Toronto alone at night, and if you’ve walked on your own in Estevan at night, where do you feel safer? That’s the most important question, not where we stand according to some weighted data.
It’s also worth noting that while our CSI rating is up, and we’ve moved up in the national rankings, we’re still second-best of the six Saskatchewan cities with a municipal police service. Moose Jaw was the only one better.
While the crime severity index measures trends such as violent crime or non-violent crime, and gives it weight, the people who suffer a non-violent crime are still victims. A theft of $5,000? There’s a victim? The spray painting vandalism that we saw in the community last fall? There were victims.
All of these incidents lead to us being more likely to lock our doors or purchase alarm systems or feel a little more paranoid.
But we should still feel safe when we walk through our communities or when we leave our homes or when parents allow their children to go to the playground.
That we can feel safe is a reflection of the quality law enforcement we have in the community, and the character of the people living in Estevan.
In the end, that’s the truest measure of safety.
We should feel very safe in Estevan.
