Maclean’s Magazine is not done with North Battleford.
They have come out with their 2019 Most Dangerous Places in Canada list, and not surprisingly, North Battleford topped their list.
North Battleford was declared the most dangerous place in Canada in Maclean’s, the same as last year, based on the city’s Crime Severity Index rating of 371.58.
The city was also described by Maclean’s as having Canada’s highest rates of youth crime, impaired driving and firearms offences, as well as the second highest rates of assault levels one and two, breaking and entering and robbery.
Unlike last year, when Maclean’s did a lengthy profile of the city’s community safety efforts, this time Maclean’s directed most of its attention in their December 2018 issue to an Alberta community.
The focus was on Wetaskiwin, in a lengthy profile under the headline “Canada’s fastest-growing crime problem is in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.”
Wetaskiwin is described as having the fastest-growing CSI score in the country between 2012 and 2017. Its CSI score is 257.54, a rise of 100.63 points since 2012.
It has also been pegged as the “most dangerous city in Alberta” and third most dangerous in the country.
The article focused on its mounting crime issues including a spike in violent crime, as well as efforts to control it by adding more RCMP officers and by instituting “lock your doors” campaigns to address an epidemic of motor vehicle thefts.
But it was not all negative. Maclean’s pointed to a success story in Estevan, which dropped from 20th on the CSI to 91st this year, due largely to police efforts to address the city’s drug problem. Their crime severity reduction is 58.54 over five years, the fastest dropping in Canada.
The article is now up at macleans.ca.
