Flin Flon’s crime rate stacks up favourably against northern Manitoba’s other major centres, but not so much against some other Canadian communities of similar size, an analysis shows.
The Reminder compared Flin Flon’s recently released 2016 crime statistics with those of The Pas, Thompson and seven other communities across the country.
Results show that while Flin Flon recorded a significantly lower crime rate than both The Pas and Thompson, it far exceeded rates in six of the seven other communities.
Flin Flon recorded an overall crime rate of 19,986 offences per 100,000 people in 2016. Crimes classified as violent, such as assaults, carried a per-capita rate of 2,919.
The Pas recorded an overall per-capita crime rate of 63,553, more than triple that of Flin Flon. The violent crime rate in The Pas was 7,497, more than double Flin Flon’s rate.
Thompson’s overall crime rate of 39,484 was nearly double that of Flin Flon. And Thompson’s violent rate of 8,069 was almost triple that of Flin Flon.
Both The Pas and Thompson have unusually high crime rates, particularly for communities of their size.
For more perspective, The Reminder selected seven other communities from seven different provinces across Canada that are similar in size to Flin Flon: Creston, BC (pop. 5,306), Redcliff, Alberta (5,600), Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan (5,344), Hearst, Ontario (5,070), Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador (5,249), Woodstock, New Brunswick (5,228) and Cornwall, PEI (5,348).
Flin Flon’s per-capita crime rate exceeded that of six of the seven communities, with Meadow Lake being the exception. Meadow Lake’s rate nearly doubled that of Flin Flon.
Flin Flon’s crime rate far exceeded those of the six remaining communities, ranging from 99 per cent higher (Woodstock) to 464 per cent higher (Deer Lake).
Flin Flon had a higher violent crime rate than six of the seven communities, with Meadow Lake again the exception. Flin Flon’s violent rate quadrupled that of Cornwall, which had the lowest rate of this type of crime.
Meadow Lake was also one of the seven communities that had a higher property crime rate than Flin Flon. Flin Flon’s property crime rate tripled that of most of the other communities.
Flin Flon had the dubious distinction of recording the highest per-capita break-and-enter rate of The Pas, Thompson and the seven other communities.
On average, Flin Flon recorded one break-in every 3.9 days, though 60 per cent of these involved uninhabited outbuildings such as garages, not homes.
The Pas and Meadow Lake had break-in rates that were 11 per cent and 15 per cent below that of Flin Flon. None of the other communities came close to Flin Flon’s rate.
Flin Flon fared much better when it came to drug violations, recording the lowest rate of The Pas, Thompson and the seven other communities, though less than a percentage point separated Flin Flon and Redcliff.
