Photo: Jason Woodhead · CC BY 2.0Bow Island sees less crime per resident than 92% of Canadian towns
Its Crime Severity Index averaged 34.4 over 2023–2025, against 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Measured on crime the police covering Bow Island reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of A. Behind the grade sit 5.5 violent incidents and 15.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people a year, where the comparison is 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
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 Bow Island detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Bow Island
Below Alberta’s typical town
Within Alberta, the median town comes to 110 on the index, against 34.4 in Bow Island. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Set beside the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, Bow Island’s two halves part ways: 26.6 for violence (typical 86.4) and 37.8 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
A low clearance rate
Police cleared 25% of Bow Island’s crime, weighted by seriousness (60% of violent crime, 16% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
More severe than in 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Bow Island moved from 24.8 to 39.5, while the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Bow Island: A for safety, and why
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.
From 2023 to 2025, Bow Island’s index climbed 59%
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked most recently, in 2025 (39.5); 2023 was the low point, at 24.8. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Bow Island | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 39.5 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 38.9 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 24.8 | 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 Bow Island, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Bow Island’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Bow Island runs highest on break and enter (3.3 per 1,000 against 2.5). Assault and theft under $5,000 sit below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0 | 0 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 23.3 | 3.3 | 16% |
| Possession of stolen property | 6 | 0.8 | 28% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 10 | 1.4 | 7% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 4.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 19.7 | 2.8 | 7% |
| Mischief | 24 | 3.4 | 13% |
| Weapons violations | 0.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 13.7 | 1.9 | 64% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Drug violations | 0.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Impaired driving | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| 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.
About 39 violent incidents a year across the police area of 7,110 residents that includes Bow Island, 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.
Property crime adds about 110 a year and other violations 30 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Bow Island
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow Island | 2,310 | 34.4 | 26.6 | A |
| Forty Mile County No. 8 (22 km) | 3,927 | 34.4 | 26.6 | A |
| Redcliff (48 km) | 5,916 | 66.7 | 63.8 | B− |
| Cypress County (51 km) | 7,855 | 66.6 | 46.6 | B− |
| Taber (54 km) | 8,009 | 29.4 | 30.1 | A+ |
| Medicine Hat (54 km) | 68,714 | 87.3 | 82.6 | C |
Nearby, 1 of 4 places with their own figures have a lower index than Bow Island. Just 53.6 km away, Taber comes to 29.4, against 34.4. Sharing its police with one neighbour, it shares that neighbour’s figure as well, so the neighbour isn’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 22–54 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Bow Island.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A wider policing area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Bow Island together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- What 100 means. The index is scaled so that Canada as a whole scored 100 in its base year, 2006: a town at 50 has half that severity per resident.
- The clearance rate. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- Severity, weighed. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Bow Island
Is Bow Island safe?
Bow Island scores 34.4 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2; per 1,000 residents a year that is 5.5 violent incidents and 15.3 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Bow Island?
Most often it is mischief: 3.4 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come break and enter at 3.3 and other Criminal Code offences at 3.2.
Is crime going up in Bow Island?
Yes: the index rose 59%, from 24.8 in 2023 to 39.5 in 2025.
How much of Bow Island’s crime do police solve?
About 25% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 60% of violent and 16% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Bow Island and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).