Photo: Mascdman · CC BY-SA 2.5Recorded crime per resident is higher in Special Area No. 2 than in 64% of Canadian towns
On Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 76.9, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ sits at 67.2. Its letter for safety is C+, worked out from crime the police covering Special Area No. 2 reported over 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 14.0 violent incidents and 32.3 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
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 published for the Hanna detachment area, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Special Area No. 2
Fraud: high for a town its size
Special Area No. 2 records 9.8 incidents of fraud per 1,000 residents a year, against 5.1 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Below Alberta’s typical town
Special Area No. 2’s index of 76.9 compares with 110 for the typical town in Alberta. Towns its size ↓
The non-violent half stands out
Special Area No. 2 scores 65.8 for violence and 82 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
Below-typical clearance
The weighted clearance rate, the share of crime police solve, is 22% for Special Area No. 2 (36% violent, 18% non-violent), beside 34% for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What’s behind Special Area No. 2’s grade
How sure: Less sure than most. No detachment reports for Special Area No. 2 itself, so the grade rests on the nearest one’s figures, 40 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.
Crime in Special Area No. 2, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Special Area No. 2 runs highest on break and enter (4.9 per 1,000 against 2.5), fraud (9.8 per 1,000 against 5.1) and mischief (5.8 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 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.08 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 22 | 4.9 | 15% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3.7 | 0.8 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 8.3 | 1.8 | 20% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 6 | 1.3 | 5% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 34.7 | 7.7 | 10% |
| Mischief | 26.3 | 5.8 | 8% |
| Weapons violations | 2.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 28 | 6.2 | 71% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5.3 | 1.2 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 4.3 | 1 | — |
| Impaired driving | 6.7 | 1.5 | 34% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1 | 0.2 | — |
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.
The detachment nearest Special Area No. 2, 4,550 residents: around 63 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.
Property crime adds about 150 a year and other violations 67 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
The index in Special Area No. 2, each year
Crime Severity Index
2025, the last year shown, came out highest at 83.4, and 2023 lowest at 72.8. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Special Area No. 2 | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 83.4 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 74.5 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 72.8 | 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 Special Area No. 2, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Special Area No. 2
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special Area No. 2 | 1,837 | 76.9 | 65.8 | C+ |
| Hanna (24 km) | 2,665 | 76.9 | 65.8 | C+ |
| Special Area No. 3 (58 km) | 1,043 | 85.8 | 136 | C |
| Special Area No. 4 (63 km) | 1,171 | 69.8 | 55.2 | C+ |
| Starland County (69 km) | 1,820 | 57.6 | 48.1 | B |
| Drumheller (78 km) | 8,439 | 101.2 | 101.9 | C− |
2 of the 4 neighbours with their own figures score lower than Special Area No. 2. Just 63.2 km away, Special Area No. 4 comes to 69.8, against 76.9. Sharing its police with one neighbour, it shares that neighbour’s figure as well, so the neighbour isn’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. No closer places have figures: these lie 24–78 km from Special Area No. 2.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. A cleared case is one police consider solved. Whether anyone is convicted is a separate matter the rate doesn’t follow.
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
- Small numbers. About 4,552 people live in the area these figures cover; at that size one bad year shows up large. Statistics Canada says: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- What 100 means. Figures are relative to one fixed point, Canada in 2006 at 100, rather than to this year’s national number.
Questions about safety in Special Area No. 2
Is Special Area No. 2 safe?
Statistics Canada puts Special Area No. 2 at 76.9 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more sit at 67.2 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 14 and property crimes at 32.3 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Special Area No. 2?
Most often it is other Criminal Code offences: 11.1 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come fraud at 9.8 and theft under $5,000 at 7.7.
Is crime going up in Special Area No. 2?
Up 15%: 72.8 in 2023, 83.4 in 2025. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of Special Area No. 2’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 22% of crime (36% of violent crime, 18% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Special Area No. 2 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).