Major crime was less of problem in Flin Flon than in most other northern Manitoba communities last year.
Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (CSI) is a statistical analysis that measures the severity of crime – not just the number of offences – in individual communities.
Statistics Canada recently released the 2016 CSI scores for 20 northern Manitoba communities. Flin Flon had the sixth-lowest score at 164.78.
That gave Flin Flon the lowest score of any sizable community in the region – less than half The Pas’ score of 333.39 and nearly three-quarters lower than Thompson’s score of 284.30.
Four communities – Snow Lake, Wabowden, Lynn Lake and Churchill – recorded scores of 0. Gillam, with a score of 136.04, was the only other northern community with a score lower than that of Flin Flon.
Flin Flon’s CSI scores were virtually identical in 2015 and 2016. The community’s 2016 score was its third-highest since 2005, behind the 2005 score of 184.60 and the 2011 score of 175.96.
In 2016, Leaf Rapids had the highest CSI score not only in northern Manitoba, but also in the entire province, with 772.96.
Statistics Canada did not provide CSI scores for several northern communities, including Brochet, South Indian Lake and St. Theresa Point, among others.
Across the border, the Creighton RCMP’s jurisdiction of Creighton, Denare Beach and Sturgeon Landing recorded a CSI score of 213.99 last year.
That was Creighton’s second-highest score since 2005, behind the 2013 score of 258.20.
Statistics Canada developed the CSI in 2004, noting on its website that the raw crime rate “does not provide information on the overall seriousness of crimes reported by police.”
The CSI assigns a “weight” to each category of crime by considering the incarceration rate and average prison sentence associated those offences. The higher the incarceration rate and the longer the sentences, the greater the weight of the category.
The CSI then looks at the total number of crimes, by category, reported in each community. This number is multiplied by the weight of each category to arrive at a CSI score.
Statistics Canada says about 40 per cent of reported crime in Canada stems from the “relatively less serious offences” of theft under $5,000 and mischief.
