File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Criminal Activity

Kamloops had the highest crime rate in the country last year: Statistics Canada

Jul 25, 2024 | 3:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — New numbers released by Statistics Canada Thursday (July 25) show Kamloops had the highest crime rate of any city in Canada last year.

Police reported 13,116 crimes per 100,000 population in Kamloops in 2023 — the highest number reported in any census metropolitan area in the country.

Next in line were Red Deer (12,765 per 100,000), Chilliwack (11,615) and Nanaimo (10,200). The average crime rate for the country as a whole was 5,843 per 100,000 in 2023.

The silver lining for Kamloops is that violent crime declined in the city last year.

Stats Canada’s Crime Severity Index — which assigns weights to crime categories based on lengths of court sentences — shows a decline of 3.8 per cent in 2023 for violent crime.

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However, the index showed a 12.3 per cent increase for non-violent crime.