Photo: Ken Eckert · CC BY-SA 4.0For recorded crime, Bentley sits in the middle of Canadian towns
Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 66.3 to 59.2. Overall, Bentley grades B− for safety: close to the middle of Canadian towns, on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 8.6 violent incidents and 32.0 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Still, on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 67.3, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ sits at 67.2.
Statistics Canada, police-reported crime, 2023–2025 means. The index weighs each crime by its seriousness; rates are incidents per 1,000 residents a year. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: one figure for all of the Sylvan Lake detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Bentley
Heavier on property and other crime
Bentley’s index splits into violent crime, 43.3 here and 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, and everything else, 77.5 against 62.8. By type ↓
Lighter than Alberta’s middle
Within Alberta, the median town comes to 110 on the index, against 67.3 in Bentley. Towns its size ↓
Police clear less here
For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the typical clearance rate is 34%; Bentley’s police clear 21%, 43% of violent crime and 16% of the rest. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Bentley’s grade
How sure: Less sure, as Bentley has no detachment of its own in Statistics Canada’s tables and is graded on the closest one’s figures, 19 km away.
The grade weighs the Crime Severity Index and its violent half, averaged over 2023–2025, against every Canadian town and city neighbourhood of 1,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
What police record in Bentley, by type
Against the typical town its size, Bentley runs highest on mischief (6.4 per 1,000 against 4.2). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 35.3 | 4.2 | 11% |
| Possession of stolen property | 22.7 | 2.7 | 19% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 33 | 4 | 11% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 15.3 | 1.8 | 7% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 61.3 | 7.3 | 4% |
| Mischief | 53.3 | 6.4 | 12% |
| Weapons violations | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 15.3 | 1.8 | 59% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 6.7 | 0.8 | 30% |
| Drug violations | 3.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Impaired driving | 41.7 | 5 | 53% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment, incidents a year its own. Cleared: incidents solved by a charge or otherwise, as a share of those reported.
Incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 means, against the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
Bentley, year by year
Crime Severity Index
2024 stands out as the heaviest year at 76.4, with 2025 the lightest at 59.2. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Bentley | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 59.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 76.4 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 66.3 | 70.6 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Bentley, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Around 72 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Bentley (8,510 residents), 2023–2025
Violent incidents per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Property crimes per 1,000 a year, 2023–2025
Statistics Canada counts actual incidents; those police record as unfounded are listed apart and kept out of its crime rates and severity index. Each incident is filed under its most serious violation, which the survey sets partly by the maximum penalty.
And about 270 property crimes, plus 100 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Crime in the places around Bentley
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bentley | 1,153 | 67.3 | 43.3 | B− |
| Lacombe County | 11,072 | 94.9 | 66.9 | C− |
| Sylvan Lake | 17,897 | 82.3 | 83.4 | C |
| Blackfalds | 12,258 | 50.8 | 49.1 | B+ |
Of 3 places nearby with their own figures, 1 come in under Bentley. Closest is Blackfalds, 19.2 km away, at 50.8 to 67.3 here.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The index’s scale. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
- What clearance means. The clearance rate is the share of incidents police solve, by a charge or otherwise, weighted by seriousness like the index. It isn’t a conviction rate.
- An index, not a verdict. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Bentley
Is Bentley safe?
Bentley measures 67.3 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 8.6 violent incidents and 32 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Bentley?
Most often it is theft under $5,000: 7.3 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come Criminal Code traffic offences at 6.6 and mischief at 6.4.
Is crime going up in Bentley?
The reverse: 66.3 in 2023 came down to 59.2 by 2025, 11% lower.
How much of Bentley’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 21% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+); split up, that is 43% of violent and 16% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Bentley and everywhere else it polices.
Source: Statistics Canada, police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025 (Statistics Canada Open Licence); TownRatings calculation.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services (tables 35-10-0186 to 0190, 0061, 0063, 0064), 2023–2025 · Statistics Canada, Incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations, police services (35-10-0178 to 0185) · Safety Grade: TownRatings calculation. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).