Photo: Nathan Schneider, aka Schnits at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Penhold records more crime per resident than 62% of Canadian towns
From 2023 to 2025, crime the police covering Penhold reported put it at C+ for safety: #189 of 474 in Alberta. Both towns on its borders with figures record more crime per resident. What’s more, each year brought 10.3 violent incidents and 28.3 incidents of property crime for every 1,000 residents (12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size). On Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 73.6, where the typical Canadian town its size sits at 68.5.
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. Measured across the Innisfail detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Penhold
Easing since 2023
Penhold’s index went from 86.9 in 2023 to 61.2 in 2025; the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Lower than most of Alberta
Within Alberta, the median town comes to 110 on the index, against 73.6 in Penhold. Towns its size ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Penhold’s index splits into violent crime, 64.8 here and 85.7 for the typical Canadian town its size, and everything else, 77.8 against 62.8. By type ↓
In the middle of towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Penhold stands 23rd, the lowest first. 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 Penhold’s C+
How sure: A less certain grade than most, because the figures belong to the nearest detachment, 14 km from Penhold, 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.
Its place: #189 of 474 in Alberta and #1,555 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.
Penhold’s index fell 30% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 86.9; the lightest was 2025, at 61.2. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Penhold | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 61.2 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 72.8 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 86.9 | 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 Penhold, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
What police record in Penhold, by type
Against the typical town its size, Penhold runs highest on drug offences (1.6 per 1,000 against 0.7), break and enter (4.4 per 1,000 against 2.8) and mischief (5.6 per 1,000 against 4.9). 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 to 10,000 people.
Around 120 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Penhold (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.
By its index, Penhold stands 23rd of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mulmur Ontario | 3,813 | 24 | 17.5 | A+ |
| 2 | Forty Mile County No. 8 Alberta | 3,927 | 34.4 | 26.6 | A |
| … | |||||
| 20 | Electoral Area F, East Kootenay British Columbia | 3,893 | 71.6 | 60.2 | C+ |
| 21 | Danville Quebec | 3,944 | 72.6 | 127.5 | C+ |
| 22 | Colchester County, Subdivision A Nova Scotia | 3,891 | 72.9 | 100.8 | C+ |
| 23 | Penhold Alberta | 3,812 | 73.6 | 64.8 | C+ |
| 24 | Roberts Creek British Columbia | 3,779 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| 25 | Blind River Ontario | 3,692 | 77.7 | 114 | C+ |
| 26 | Baie-D'Urfé Quebec | 3,706 | 80.3 | 115.7 | C |
| … | |||||
| 29 | Pincher Creek Alberta | 3,890 | 84.5 | 85.4 | C |
| … | |||||
| 33 | Lamont County Alberta | 3,918 | 95.7 | 81.2 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 35 | Fort Macleod Alberta | 3,945 | 96.7 | 83.9 | C− |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Cowichan Bay British Columbia | 3,713 | 131.7 | 149.7 | 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 Penhold in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Crime in the places around Penhold
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penhold | 3,812 | 73.6 | 64.8 | C+ |
| Red Deer County | 22,076 | 73.6 | 64.8 | C+ |
| Innisfail | 8,736 | 83.9 | 76 | C |
| Red Deer | 115,409 | 126.8 | 134.3 | D |
The places around Penhold all score higher on the index. 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
- What clearance means. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- The index’s scale. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Penhold
Is Penhold safe?
Penhold scores 73.6 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people is 68.5; per 1,000 residents a year that is 10.3 violent incidents and 28.3 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Penhold?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 6.3 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of mischief (5.6) and fraud (5.3).
Is crime going up in Penhold?
It went down 30% between 2023 and 2025, from 86.9 to 61.2.
How much of Penhold’s crime do police solve?
25%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town its size manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 46% and non-violent crime at 19%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Penhold 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).