Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Legal records more crime per resident than seven in ten Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 81.5 for violence and 86.7 for everything else (normally 86.4 and 62.8). The index rose from 79.9 in 2023 to 86.5 in 2025. On top of that, its letter for safety is C, worked out from crime the police covering Legal reported over 2023 to 2025. In a usual year, 13.1 violent incidents and 34.2 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 12.0 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. Area-wide: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts, counted over the Morinville detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Legal
Mischief: high for a town its size
Legal records 9.6 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Below Alberta’s typical town
Within Alberta, the median town comes to 110 on the index, against 84.7 in Legal. Towns its size ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Legal’s index splits into violent crime, 81.5 here and 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, and everything else, 86.7 against 62.8. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Legal: C for safety, and why
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Legal itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 17 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 Legal, by type
Against the typical town its size, Legal runs highest on mischief (9.6 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (5 per 1,000 against 2.5) and motor vehicle theft (4.3 per 1,000 against 2.4). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 7.3 | 0.3 | 59% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 6.3 | 0.2 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 8.3 | 0.3 | 57% |
| Breaking and entering | 129 | 5 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 86.7 | 3.4 | 25% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 110 | 4.3 | 10% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 18.3 | 0.7 | 4% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 148.3 | 5.8 | 7% |
| Mischief | 246.3 | 9.6 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 13.3 | 0.5 | 88% |
| Administration of justice violations | 76.3 | 3 | 65% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 23.3 | 0.9 | 48% |
| Drug violations | 15 | 0.6 | 33% |
| Impaired driving | 37.3 | 1.5 | 81% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.7 | 0.07 | — |
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.
Legal, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 87.7; 2023 was the lightest, at 79.9. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Legal | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 86.5 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 87.7 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 79.9 | 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 Legal, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
The detachment nearest Legal, 25,600 residents: around 340 violent incidents a year, 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 880 property crimes, plus 310 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 Legal
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal | 1,253 | 84.7 | 81.5 | C |
| Morinville | 10,763 | 66.4 | 81.6 | B− |
| Bon Accord | 1,457 | 84.7 | 81.5 | 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
- Cleared, not convicted. 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.
- What the index measures. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
Questions about safety in Legal
Is Legal safe?
Legal’s Crime Severity Index is 84.7 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 13.1 violent incidents and 34.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Legal?
Mischief is the most common, at 9.6 per 1,000 residents a year, then other Criminal Code offences (7.9) and assault (6.3).
Is crime going up in Legal?
Yes: the index rose 8%, from 79.9 in 2023 to 86.5 in 2025.
How much of Legal’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 28% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 44% of violent crime and 22% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Legal 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).