Statistics Canada released their newest crime severity index numbers, which have placed Estevan in a high position.
In the data, 2023 had a crime severity index of 163.92, up from 117.69 in 2022. The previous 10-year peak was set at 156.51 in 2021.
Estevan Police Chief Rich Lowen says looking at the incidents over the year shows that the numbers aren't the whole story.
"It's nothing that's surprising given the incidents that took place last year, we knew that with the event that took place on November 1st, then our severity index would rise proportionately to that. The challenge being is these numbers can't be looked at alone without that context, you have to understand the events that took place the year before."
Lowen says that the number is made for cities with 100,000 people and that a single incident in a small city like Estevan can skew the numbers greatly.
"Everyone knows we had a homicide last year on November 1st as well as the shooting that took place after, those are rated very heavily in terms of their point scores when StatsCan looks at these numbers. So those cause a significant increase and one event can cause a 30-point increase in our crime severity."
"So when you take that into account and that one incident and reduce it by that one incident, we're sitting in a very good position. Estevan, I would consider still a very, very safe city."
Lowen says that on the ground level officers are doing well handling the cases that come their way in the city.
"Things have been going well in terms of our officers, the nice part about the stats is they also give a weighted clearance rate for our service and our numbers are up on our clearances, which is nice to see, which means our officers are doing their job and doing it well."
Lowen says that whenever info comes out related to the crime severity index people should take a look at the conditions and context around those numbers rather than just looking at the data.
"It's just something we look at in terms of any trends that we might notice, whether that's a specific violence in a specific area that we can address or anything along those lines, we're going to stick to our business plan in terms of how we address things in the city and that's with along with our police board, they'll give us the direction that we want to go for the years coming forward."