Photo: Jason Woodhead · CC BY 2.0Provost sees more crime per resident than 83% of Canadian towns
The yearly rates were 18.6 violent incidents and 46.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Its violent half comes to 90.4 and its non-violent half to 120.7, where the norm is 86.4 and 62.8. It grades C− for safety on crime the police covering Provost reported from 2023 to 2025.
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 Provost detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Provost
Break and enter: high for a town its size
Provost records 7.7 incidents of break and enter per 1,000 residents a year, against 2.5 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Violent crime scores 90.4 on Provost’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 120.7 against 62.8. By type ↓
Near the Alberta middle
The typical Alberta town scores 110; Provost, 111.4. 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.
What sits behind Provost’s C−
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.
Which crimes make up Provost’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Provost runs highest on break and enter (7.7 per 1,000 against 2.5), motor vehicle theft (5.9 per 1,000 against 2.4) and mischief (10 per 1,000 against 4.2). Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.3 | 0.8 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3 | 0.7 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 32.3 | 7.7 | 16% |
| Possession of stolen property | 15 | 3.6 | 25% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 24.7 | 5.9 | 24% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 18 | 4.3 | 4% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 36.3 | 8.7 | 8% |
| Mischief | 41.7 | 10 | 18% |
| Weapons violations | 1.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 28 | 6.7 | 82% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 6.7 | 1.6 | 75% |
| Drug violations | 2.3 | 0.6 | — |
| Impaired driving | 14 | 3.4 | 71% |
| 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 people or more.
Around 78 violent incidents a year in the 4,150-resident police area around Provost, 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.
Property crime adds about 190 a year and other violations 72 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Provost’s index year by year
Crime Severity Index
2024 stands out as the heaviest year at 136.3, with 2025 the lightest at 97. 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 | Provost | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 97 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 136.3 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 100.8 | 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 Provost, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Provost
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provost | 1,875 | 111.4 | 90.4 | C− |
| Provost No. 52 (17 km) | 2,092 | 111.4 | 90.4 | C− |
| Macklin (21 km) | 1,185 | 98.7 | 91.9 | C− |
| Special Area No. 4 (64 km) | 1,171 | 69.8 | 55.2 | C+ |
| Wainwright No. 61 (64 km) | 4,576 | 63.5 | 42.7 | B− |
| Wainwright (67 km) | 6,996 | 113 | 121.8 | C− |
Provost sits above 3 of the 4 neighbours with figures of their own. Macklin, 21.4 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 98.7 to 111.4. Its police also cover one neighbouring place, which carries the same index and is left out above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 17–67 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Provost.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Solved cases. Police clear an incident by charging someone, recommending a charge, or closing it another way. The rate weighs serious crimes more, as the index does.
- How serious, not how safe. Statistics Canada, which publishes the index, attaches a caution: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.” The number weighs each reported crime by its seriousness before dividing by residents.
- Read with care. With roughly 4,148 residents in its police area, a few cases swing the figures. In Statistics Canada’s words, “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- Town and surroundings together. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Provost together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Provost
Is Provost safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 111.4 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: that is where Provost stands, with 18.6 violent and 46.3 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Provost?
Other Criminal Code offences is the most common, at 11.7 per 1,000 residents a year, then mischief (10) and theft under $5,000 (8.7).
Is crime going up in Provost?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 100.8 to 97. The police area is small or partly reported, so treat the change with care.
How much of Provost’s crime do police solve?
About 31% of crime is cleared, weighted by seriousness, with 61% of violent and 21% of other crime; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Provost together with its neighbours or the countryside around it.
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).