Has Airdrie seen a spike in crime?

Between January and June 2023, there has been a 13 per cent increase in total criminal code offences compared to the same time as last year in the city.

During a Municipal Policing Advisory Board last week, Inspector Lauren Weare, the Airdrie RCMP Detachment Commander gave a breakdown of the statistics; including the Municipal Crime Guage. 

A graphic showing the Airdrie Municipal Crime Guage from January - June 2023. (Graphic credit to Airdrie RCMP) 

"It's based on the violations data, which is different than the crime severity index; and it's based on all of the violations scored in the UCR [Uniform Crime Reporting Survey] scoring," Insp. Weare explained. "You could have a break and enter, you could have a stolen vehicle, you could have all of these things and those are the things that the crime gauge measures."

According to Insp. Weare, the noted increase in persons crimes for the first half of the year, was primarily driven by assaults, robberies, and extortion, especially sextortion. 

"Increases in property crimes for the first half of the year were primarily driven by break-and-enters, frauds, and we had some arson occurrences."

While the total criminal offences have increased, Airdrie's Crime Severity Index (CSI) has decreased. Insp. Weare underlined that the Crime Severity Index and the crime gauge are different.

"The Crime Severity Index tracks the changes in the severity of police-reported crime and it accounts for both the amount of crime reported to police and as well as the relative seriousness of these crimes specifically. We had one homicide in 2022, which was one of the primary drivers contributing to increasing our crime Severity Index, even though overall our CSI is lower than the previous seven years."

A graphic of Airdrie's crime severity index in comparison to years previous. (Graphic credit to Airdrie RCMP)

Another significant contributing factor in the crime severity index was sextortion, though Insp. Weare noted that this is a nationwide trend and not unique to the city. 

Data provided by Airdrie RCMP during a Municipal Policing Advisory Board meeting show which offences had an impact on the Crime Severity Index. (Graphic credit to Airdrie RCMP)

"The possession of stolen property has also contributed to where our CSI is. Our community has quite a low Crime Severity Index, compared to other municipalities of our size; we are well positioned with our crime Severity Index."

Domestic violence statistics were also enumerated. 

Domestic violence statistics between April to June 2023 were also presented during a Municipal Policing Advisory Board meeting in late September. (Graphic credit to Airdrie RCMP)

"From April to June. We have seen [domestic violence statistics are] 18 per cent lower than 2022 this time last year."

Other details that Insp. Weare provided during the meeting included how many investigations different units within the Airdrie RCMP have been in charge of or assisted with. One of the teams highlighted for their work was the Community and School Resource Team.

"The stars of our show are the Community and School Resource team. This team is really coming into their own and the things that they are doing. They attended a lot of events [and] they've moved to investigate a number of school-related files. because they have the relationships in the schools with the kids, it's the best place to land those investigations."

Statistics provided by the Airdrie RCMP showing how the Community and School Resource Team is spending their time and the volume of files they have been involved with. (Graphic credit to Airdrie RCMP)

Insp. Weare expressed hope that this particular division with Airdrie's RCMP will continue to grow throughout 2024.

In relation to violent crimes, one board member asked if Mounties in Airdrie were observing the rise in violent robberies, similar to what Calgary was experiencing.

"Yes, they are [violent robbery crimes are]. We've had a number of those; we've had some home invasion-type files here. Some of these are people who live in Airdrie and many are not. There is always a nexus to the rural and a significant Nexus from the City of Calgary."

The Municipal Policing Advisory Board's next meeting will be held at the end of November. 

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