Photo: Qyd · CC BY-SA 3.0Brazeau County has more crime per resident than 88% of Canadian towns
Alberta’s towns sit around 110, midway up their range. Scored on crime the police covering Brazeau County reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on D for safety: #437 of 474 in Alberta. Against usual levels of 85.7 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 92.3 and 146.2. Police counts work out at 15.9 violent incidents and 54.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical town its size they are 12.9 and 31.2.
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 Drayton Valley detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Brazeau County
Break and enter: high for a town its size
Brazeau County records 9.6 incidents of break and enter per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.8 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Set beside the typical Canadian town its size, Brazeau County’s two halves part ways: 92.3 for violence (typical 85.7) and 146.2 for the rest (typical 62.8). By type ↓
More severe than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Brazeau County stood at 103.6, by 2025 at 131.7. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Counting up from the lowest index, Brazeau County is 36th of the 40 Canadian towns closest in population. Towns its size ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Brazeau County’s D
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 4 km from Brazeau County, since none reports under the town’s name.
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.
Its place: #437 of 474 in Alberta and #2,309 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Brazeau County’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Brazeau County runs highest on break and enter (9.6 per 1,000 against 2.8), motor vehicle theft (6 per 1,000 against 2.6) and mischief (10.5 per 1,000 against 4.9). Sexual assault sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 58.7 | 9.6 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 28.7 | 4.7 | 20% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 36.7 | 6 | 14% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 19 | 3.1 | 9% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 81 | 13.4 | 4% |
| Mischief | 63.7 | 10.5 | 14% |
| Weapons violations | 8.3 | 1.4 | 69% |
| Administration of justice violations | 26 | 4.3 | 65% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 12 | 2 | 44% |
| Drug violations | 5.7 | 0.9 | 58% |
| Impaired driving | 36 | 5.9 | 48% |
| 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 to 10,000 people.
Brazeau County’s index rose 27% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 154.8; 2023 was the lightest, at 103.6. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Brazeau County | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 131.7 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 154.8 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 103.6 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Brazeau County, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Brazeau County comes 36th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trent Lakes Ontario | 7,357 | 20.6 | 24.8 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 3 | Taber Alberta | 8,009 | 29.4 | 30.1 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 13 | Newell County Alberta | 7,846 | 40.4 | 25.8 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 27 | Cypress County Alberta | 7,855 | 66.6 | 46.6 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 33 | Parry Sound Ontario | 7,584 | 92.2 | 121.3 | C |
| 34 | Campbellton New Brunswick | 7,485 | 113.1 | 160.7 | C− |
| 35 | Westlock County Alberta | 7,556 | 129.8 | 116.4 | D |
| 36 | Brazeau County Alberta | 7,685 | 130 | 92.3 | D |
| 37 | Digby Nova Scotia | 7,528 | 130.3 | 157.9 | D |
| 38 | Dryden Ontario | 7,808 | 137.6 | 238.3 | D |
| 39 | Fort Frances Ontario | 7,607 | 143.8 | 209.3 | D |
| 40 | Bonnyville Alberta | 7,366 | 285.4 | 211.4 | D |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Brazeau County in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 97 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Brazeau County (6,170 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.
Add about 330 property crimes and 130 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Brazeau County
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazeau County | 7,685 | 130 | 92.3 | D |
| Drayton Valley (2 km) | 8,047 | 152.4 | 156.3 | D |
| Parkland County (67 km) | 34,286 | 121 | 115 | D |
| Stony Plain (73 km) | 19,662 | 88.4 | 74.6 | C |
| Lac Ste. Anne County (75 km) | 12,639 | 120 | 99.2 | D |
| Wetaskiwin County No. 10 (75 km) | 12,117 | 88.9 | 60 | C |
Nearby, 4 of 5 places with their own figures have a lower index than Brazeau County. The nearest of them, Parkland County (66.9 km away), scores 121 against 130.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Brazeau County has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 2–75 km out.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. 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.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
- Cleared, not convicted. A crime is cleared when police lay or recommend a charge, or solve it another way; the weighted rate counts serious crimes for more.
Questions about safety in Brazeau County
Is Brazeau County safe?
The short answer is an index of 130 for Brazeau County (2023–2025), built from 15.9 violent incidents and 54.3 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. For Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, the typical index is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Brazeau County?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (13.4 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 10.8, and mischief, at 10.5, follow.
Is crime going up in Brazeau County?
Up 27%: 103.6 in 2023, 131.7 in 2025.
How much of Brazeau County’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 31% of crime (70% of violent crime, 21% of the rest). The typical Canadian town its size clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Brazeau County 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).