We know crime is on the rise in Sault Ste. Marie , or at least it feels like that. But when we’re ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, it’s something that is hard to be proud of.
According to Immigration News Canada, Sault Ste. Marie ranks as the 88th most dangerous city in the world.
The Crime Severity Index (CSI) is used to measure police-reported crime in Canada.
This index quantifies the relative number and severity of crimes in different parts of Canada, giving a severity-weighted statistic.
The country-wide CSI measure has stabilized in recent years, dropping by 7% from 2019 to 2020, with a value of 73.1 in 2021.
8 Canadian cities are listed among the top 100 cities in the world, with highest crime index, according to the worldwide statistics database Numbeo.
As for all of Canada the Sault comes in at 7th place. According to Immigration News Canada ,
Aggravated assault and theft are issues that have been reported in the city keeping the city among world’s top 100 cities based on crime index of 59.2.
In addition, there is a prevalent threat of drug-related crimes such as drug use and dealing, as well as vandalism, which are causes for concern in the area says the organization.
Sudbury placed 5th on the list in Canada, but 79th on the World list.
Surrey, British Columbia: Surrey has an overall crime index of 63.8 with high rise in drug-related crimes such as possession with and without intent to distribute. This gives Surrey BC the number one spot for most dangerous city in Canada.
Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, continues to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world. It has earned this reputation due to its high crime rates and low safety scores.
Surrey, Lethbridge, Kelowna, Red Deer, Sudbury, Oshawa, Sault Ste. Marie, and Winnipeg are the most dangerous cities in Canada based on the Crime Index.
Another site, Travel Safe Abroad lists Sault Ste. Marie in the 6th place on their updated 2023 list. The article says, “While the local government disputes it, there’s no denying that crime has exploded in this small town of 72,051 over the past few years.” Travel Safe Abroad used data complied from various sites like Numero, US News and World Report, and Statistica to bring you a list of the top 10 most dangerous cities in Canada.
Sault Ste. Marie doubled in homicides from 2020 to 2021, going from 2 to 4.
The number of robberies rose by 37% over that time as well, going from 81 to 111.
Theft in the city also rose by 22% during that time. 2022 saw 2,225 thefts, including automobiles.
Though the city has some beautiful water rapids flowing through the St. Mary River, people should use caution when visiting.
Lock your vehicle and don’t leave any valuables inside.
Travel Safe is a site that allows travellers to check out the destinations before making holiday plans.
Is the Sault as bad as we’re being portrayed in these stats? Sault Ste. Marie Police services released its crime stats for the first three months of the year. It indicates for the month of January total break and enters are down 14.3% while in February that number was down 38.6% and March saw another decrease of 16.8% . As for robberies January saw an increase of 300 percent compared to January 2022. Assault was up 20 percent for the same month compared to 2022 . Bail violations were up 207% in the month of February.
Overall Sault Ste. Marie Police are kept more busy with motor vehicle collisions than crimes of violence according to the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service stats.
Please quit publishing these misleading stats some people actually believe your stories. From NUMBEO link located in your story.
About Crime Indices At This Website
The data in this section is derived from surveys conducted by visitors to our website. Questions in these surveys are designed to be similar to many scientific and government surveys.
Each entry in the survey is assigned a number within the range of -2 to +2, where -2 represents a strongly negative perception and +2 represents a strongly positive perception.
To ensure data accuracy, we have implemented filtering measures to identify and exclude potential spam from our calculations. Our algorithms identify users who exhibit spam-like behavior and their inputs are not considered in the calculations. This helps maintain the integrity of the data and provide reliable results.
To make survey results easier to interpret for our users, we present them on a scale ranging from 0 to 100. This scale allows for a clear and straightforward understanding of the data, enhancing user experience and facilitating meaningful comparisons.
Our current index, which is continuously updated, is generated using data up to 36 months old. We carefully select cities for inclusion in the index based on a minimum number of contributors to ensure statistical significance. Additionally, our semiannual index is calculated twice a year by incorporating the latest data into the historical view.
Crime Index is an estimation of the overall level of crime in a given city or country. We consider crime levels lower than 20 as very low, crime levels between 20 and 40 as low, crime levels between 40 and 60 as moderate, crime levels between 60 and 80 as high, and crime levels higher than 80 as very high.
Safety index is, on the other way, quite the opposite of the crime index. If the city has a high safety index, it is considered very safe.
The Crime Index takes into account survey responses about:
General perception of crime levels
Perceived safety: Survey responses from residents and visitors regarding their feelings of safety while walking during daylight and at night.
Concerns about specific crimes: Survey questions about worries regarding mugging, robbery, car theft, physical attacks by strangers, harassment in public places, and discrimination based on factors like skin color, ethnicity, gender, or religion.
Property crimes: Assessment of the extent of property-related crimes, such as burglary, theft, vandalism, etc.
Violent crimes: Evaluation of the perception of violent crimes, including assault, homicide, sexual offenses, etc.
It’s important to note that the Crime Index provided by Numbeo is based on user-contributed data and perceptions, which may differ from official government statistics. The index serves as a comparative tool to assess the relative safety of different cities or countries, helping individuals make informed decisions and understand the crime landscape in specific locations.
Is this much less accurate than governmental statistics?
In some countries, governments have detailed statistics based on the number of reported crimes per capita. While these surveys are usually particularly good for comparing crime between two cities within the same country, they may not be as suitable for cross-country comparisons due to the following reasons:
People in some countries are more likely to report a crime than in other countries.
Data could be forged by governmental institutions.
Data might not available in many parts of the world.
Actual formulas to calculate indices are subject to change. At this moment, quite complex empirical formulas are used. Those formulas, as written in the Java programming language, are as follows:
Thank you Wade. Excellent analysis. Research and analysis which should have been undertaken and presented by Mr. Huckerby rather than just going for clickbait and another opportunity to further rile the perpetually angry right.
Thanks for your comments, the premise behind the story isn’t so much about the ideology of the crime stats but how the Sault is being portrayed due to the crime reported in the city. You may not agree with the findings, but pretending that crime is not an issue in the city is just ignoring the reality. That said, the article does state actual stats from the city police. That’s not click bait, it’s information.
It’s not the ideology of the crime statistics that is being questioned it is the veracity of those statistics that is being questioned due to the methodology used to produce them. Based on those methods, they would better be described as “crime opinions” rather than “crime statistics”. I’m sure that at some point you must have heard the old adage about the distribution of opinions and their similarity to the distribution of a certain body part.
Not sure what stats you are referring to, the ones issued by Sault Police Service ? Again, the article was about the image the Sault has “online” regarding crime. You can dispute their findings but the fact is, this information is out there for all to see. The Sault has an image problem when it comes to crime and safety.
I am not surprised by this statistic many others probably are not either.
II grew up here and know personal heart ache what drugs can do we have to put the dealers in jail and help others who need it.
If this is not done soon many people will not come here sad but true.
Wayne Ayotte
I believe they are mistaken on their numbers. Sault Ste. Marie is deteriorating right before your eyes, by the day because the arrogant people in the ivory tower have all the wrong priorities and think money grows on trees the way they squander it without any input from the taxpayers.