Date: Friday, July 26, 2024 

Victoria, BC – Administered by Statistics Canada, the Crime Severity Index (CSI) was designed to enable Canadians to track changes in the severity of police-reported crime from year to year. In the index, all crimes are assigned a weight by Statistics Canada based on their volume and seriousness. The City of Victoria continues to have the highest CSI out of all B.C. municipal police agencies, while the Township of Esquimalt’s CSI dropped slightly.  

“The 2023 Statistics Canada data emphasizes the unique challenges we face: Victoria has high urban density, more social disorder concerns and a population with higher needs when compared to the surrounding primarily suburban municipalities,” says Chief Del Manak. “Despite these challenges, I am immensely proud of our officers for their unwavering commitment to public safety. Their dedication is evident in the significant number of high-priority and resource-intensive calls we respond to each and every day. This is also not an issue for the police to address alone; we must continue to work together with our community partners and all levels of government to reduce Victoria’s Crime Severity Index.”  

The chart below displays these latest CSI figures for Victoria and Esquimalt, along with the CSI figures for all municipal police services across BC as well as the average for all of British Columbia.  

2023 CSI for Victoria, Esquimalt, and the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area   

In addition to the Victoria and Esquimalt municipal CSI numbers, Statistics Canada also produces a regional CSI for the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). The Victoria Census Metropolitan Area is a combination of the municipalities that make up much of the Capital Regional District and surrounding areas.  

Victoria 2023 CSI, 171 
Esquimalt 2023 CSI, 43 
Victoria Census Metropolitan Area 2023 CSI, 80  

The Victoria Census Metropolitan Area’s CSI for 2023 at 80 is significantly lower than Victoria’s 2023 CSI at 171. The difference between these measures is indicative of the concentration of activity in the City of Victoria. VicPD has long supported amalgamation with other departments in the region in an effort to unify the resources needed to resolve the ongoing reality of public safety in the region. 

-30-