WESTLOCK – The town and county’s combined Crime Severity Index (CSI) more than doubled last year compared to the year prior.
The CSI, which assesses both the volume and seriousness of police-reported crimes, saw Westlock’s jump from 86.8 in 2022 to 139.8 in 2023.
“Westlock is showing a 61.2 per cent increase from 2022, which is a big jump,” Westlock RCMP S/Sgt. Jeff Sehn told Westlock County council at its committee of the whole meeting on Aug. 13.
S/Sgt Sehn said the top three drivers to the area’s 2023 CSI increase were 80 more break and enters, 273 mischiefs to property, and one homicide. A robbery at a Westlock gas station and an armed robbery where someone was held hostage at a hotel also increased the local CSI. Crimes that are more likely to result in longer prison sentences are given a higher weight.
“I’m hoping, and I’m quite confident, this is an anomaly,” he said.
In contrast, Alberta's overall CSI for 2023 saw a slight decrease, falling to 103.0 from 105.2 in 2022—a 2.1 per cent drop. RCMP K Division also experienced a minor reduction in 2023 of 0.1 per cent.
Nationally, Canada’s CSI increased for the third consecutive year by 2 per cent, rising to 80.5 from 78.8 in the previous year.
S/Sgt. Sehn pointed out that the largest contributor to the national CSI last year was a 52 per cent increase in police-reported child pornography. Last year there were 21,417 incidents of child exploitation reported by police. According to Stats Canada, this has increased every year since 2008.
The second highest contributor to the 2023 national CSI increase was fraud and extortion.
