Duchess has less crime per resident than 84% of Canadian towns
In 2023 the index stood at 43.3; it rose to 46.4 in 2025. Violence and property crime split as 5.8 violent incidents and 19.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Add to that, the grade is A−, built on crime the police covering Duchess reported from 2023 to 2025. Of the two halves, violence comes to 25.8 and other offences to 46.7, beside norms of 86.4 and 62.8.
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. Not measured by town: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts (the Brooks detachment area).
What stands out about safety in Duchess
Heavier on property and other crime
Violent crime scores 25.8 on Duchess’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 46.7 against 62.8. By type ↓
Under the Alberta norm
Set among Alberta’s towns, whose median is 110, Duchess scores 40.4. 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.
Duchess: A− for safety, and why
How sure: A less certain grade than most, because the figures belong to the nearest detachment, 18 km from Duchess, 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.
About 46 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Duchess (7,970 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 150 property crimes, plus 53 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Duchess, year by year
Crime Severity Index
It closed on its heaviest year, 2025, at 46.4; the lightest was 2024, at 31.6. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Duchess | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 46.4 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 31.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 43.3 | 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 Duchess, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Which crimes make up Duchess’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Duchess runs highest on mischief (5.2 per 1,000 against 4.2).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 24.3 | 3.1 | 16% |
| Possession of stolen property | 10 | 1.3 | 30% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 14.7 | 1.8 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 8.3 | 1 | 16% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 35.3 | 4.4 | 15% |
| Mischief | 41.3 | 5.2 | 10% |
| Weapons violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 12.7 | 1.6 | 57% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5 | 0.6 | 40% |
| Drug violations | 2.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Impaired driving | 15 | 1.9 | 62% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.04 | — |
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.
Crime in the places around Duchess
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duchess | 1,045 | 40.4 | 25.8 | A− |
| Newell County | 7,846 | 40.4 | 25.8 | A− |
| Brooks | 17,537 | 91.9 | 120.8 | C |
Same police, same number: one neighbour drops out of the comparison for that reason.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- How serious, not how safe. One robbery outweighs a run of minor thefts here, since every crime counts by the sentences courts give it. Statistics Canada adds: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Solved cases. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
Questions about safety in Duchess
Is Duchess safe?
Duchess scores 40.4 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 5.8 violent incidents and 19.4 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Duchess?
Mischief is the most common, at 5.2 per 1,000 residents a year, then theft under $5,000 (4.4) and other Criminal Code offences (3.6).
Is crime going up in Duchess?
Up 7%: 43.3 in 2023, 46.4 in 2025.
How much of Duchess’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 64% of violent crime and 22% of everything else, 30% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Duchess 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).