Photo: Glenlarson~commonswiki · Public domainCrime per resident in Bowden runs higher than in 62% of Canadian towns
A Crime Severity Index of 73.6, the 2023–2025 mean, compares with 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Add to that, the grade is C+, built on crime the police covering Bowden reported from 2023 to 2025. Neither of the two towns next door with figures records less crime per resident. The local count comes to 10.3 violent incidents and 28.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 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 for the Innisfail detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Bowden
Less severe than in 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Bowden moved from 86.9 to 61.2, while the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Lighter than Alberta’s middle
The typical Alberta town scores 110; Bowden, 73.6. Towns its size ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Bowden scores 64.8 for violence and 77.8 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
Police clear less here
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 25% for Bowden (46% violent, 19% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Bowden: C+ for safety, and why
How sure: A less certain grade than most, because the figures belong to the nearest detachment, 11 km from Bowden, not to the town.
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.
Year by year in Bowden: down 30%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (86.9); 2025 was the lightest, at 61.2. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Bowden | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 61.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 72.8 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 86.9 | 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 Bowden, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in Bowden, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Bowden runs highest on break and enter (4.4 per 1,000 against 2.5) and mischief (5.6 per 1,000 against 4.2). 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 | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 50.7 | 4.4 | 10% |
| Possession of stolen property | 35 | 3 | 24% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 28.3 | 2.4 | 8% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9.7 | 0.8 | 0% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 73 | 6.3 | 9% |
| Mischief | 65.3 | 5.6 | 10% |
| Weapons violations | 5 | 0.4 | 46% |
| Administration of justice violations | 13.3 | 1.1 | 65% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 8 | 0.7 | 25% |
| Drug violations | 19 | 1.6 | 41% |
| Impaired driving | 21.7 | 1.9 | 88% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.06 | — |
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 120 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Bowden (11,800 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 330 property crimes, plus 110 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 Bowden
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Bowden.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. Each incident counts by its seriousness, judged from court sentences, and the total is set per resident. As Statistics Canada puts it, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- The clearance rate. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Bowden
Is Bowden safe?
Its police recorded 10.3 violent incidents and 28.3 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Bowden a Crime Severity Index of 73.6. Set that beside 67.2, the median for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
What is the most common crime in Bowden?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (6.3 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 5.6, and fraud, at 5.3, follow.
Is crime going up in Bowden?
The reverse: 86.9 in 2023 came down to 61.2 by 2025, 30% lower.
How much of Bowden’s crime do police solve?
About 25% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 46% of violent and 19% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Bowden 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).