Photo: Doug Hay derivative work: MrPanyGoff · CC BY 2.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Duncan than in 98% of Canadian towns
Its 5 neighbours with figures all record less crime per resident. The grade is D−, built on crime the police covering Duncan reported from 2023 to 2025: #2,556 of 2,572 Canadian towns. Per 1,000 residents a year, 51.6 violent incidents and 105.2 incidents of property crime were recorded, against 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. Violence accounts for an index of 331.1 and other offences for 409.1, against usual levels of 85.7 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.
What stands out about safety in Duncan
Mischief: high for a town its size
Duncan records 54.2 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.9 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. By type ↓
Higher than most of British Columbia
The typical British Columbia town scores 83.2; Duncan, 384.5. Towns its size ↓
Easing since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Duncan moved from 471.5 to 336.1, while the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
A higher index than most towns its size
Set among the 40 Canadian towns closest to it in population, Duncan comes 39th, counting from the lowest Crime Severity Index. 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.
The D− for Duncan, and how it is built
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: #2,556 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.
What police record in Duncan, by type
Against the typical town its size, Duncan runs highest on mischief (54.2 per 1,000 against 4.9), drug offences (5.9 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (30.6 per 1,000 against 6.7). Motor vehicle theft sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 20.7 | 3.7 | 21% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 6.3 | 1.1 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 6 | 1.1 | 45% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 60 | 10.7 | 22% |
| Possession of stolen property | 10 | 1.8 | 23% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 8.3 | 1.5 | 12% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5.7 | 1 | 5% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 149 | 26.4 | 10% |
| Mischief | 305 | 54.2 | 29% |
| Weapons violations | 15.7 | 2.8 | 51% |
| Administration of justice violations | 342.7 | 60.9 | 95% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 22.3 | 4 | 72% |
| Drug violations | 33.3 | 5.9 | 52% |
| Impaired driving | 52.7 | 9.4 | 51% |
| 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 to 10,000 people.
Duncan’s index fell 29% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Nothing since 2023 has matched that year’s 471.5; the lightest was 2025, at 336.1. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town its size moved from 74.3 to 64.2.
Every year as a table
| Year | Duncan | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 336.1 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 345.9 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 471.5 | 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 Duncan, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Duncan is 39th of 40 towns its size, lowest index first
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Ferris Ontario | 5,835 | 17.7 | 27.2 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 15 | Spallumcheen British Columbia | 5,843 | 51.3 | 59.9 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 23 | Electoral Area A, Bulkley-Nechako British Columbia | 5,829 | 65 | 107 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 27 | Armstrong British Columbia | 5,643 | 73.6 | 83.6 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 30 | Electoral Area B, Peace River British Columbia | 5,814 | 81.8 | 82.5 | C |
| … | |||||
| 36 | Cochrane Ontario | 5,948 | 145.5 | 191 | D |
| 37 | Smithers British Columbia | 5,627 | 202.3 | 180.8 | D |
| 38 | Meadow Lake Saskatchewan | 5,667 | 335.8 | 395.4 | D− |
| 39 | Duncan British Columbia | 5,745 | 384.5 | 331.1 | D− |
| 40 | The Pas Manitoba | 5,634 | 572.1 | 753.3 | 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 Duncan in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
About 290 violent incidents a year reached Duncan’s police, 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 590 property crimes, plus 680 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 Duncan
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duncan | 5,745 | 384.5 | 331.1 | D− |
| Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley | 4,482 | 131.7 | 149.7 | D |
| Cowichan | 2,509 | — | — | — |
| North Cowichan | 34,525 | 99 | 124 | C− |
| Cowichan Bay | 3,713 | 131.7 | 149.7 | D |
| Cobble Hill | 5,074 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| Shawnigan | 9,903 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
Duncan has the highest index of the places around it. Just 1.5 km away, Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley comes to 131.7, against 384.5.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. 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.
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
- What 100 means. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
Questions about safety in Duncan
Is Duncan safe?
A Crime Severity Index of 384.5 (2023–2025), set beside a median of 68.5 for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people: that is where Duncan stands, with 51.6 violent and 105.2 property incidents per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Duncan?
Top of the list is other Criminal Code offences (104.7 per 1,000 residents a year); mischief, at 54.2, and assault, at 30.6, follow.
Is crime going up in Duncan?
No: the index fell 29%, from 471.5 in 2023 to 336.1 in 2025.
How much of Duncan’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 21%: 34% for violent crime and 17% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Duncan’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
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).