Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0Metchosin records less crime per resident than four in five Canadian towns
Its 5 neighbours with figures all record more crime per resident. Of the two halves, violence comes to 41.3 and other offences to 40.7, beside norms of 85.7 and 62.8. On crime the police covering Metchosin reported from 2023 to 2025, it grades A− for safety: #14 of 251 in British Columbia. Violence and property crime split as 6.9 violent incidents and 15.7 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size.
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 Metchosin
Under the British Columbia norm
Within British Columbia, the median town comes to 83.2 on the index, against 40.7 in Metchosin. Towns its size ↓
A lower index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Metchosin stands 3rd, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
Less severe than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Metchosin stood at 45.8, by 2025 at 35.3. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Non-violent crime leads the index
Metchosin’s index splits into violent crime, 41.3 here and 85.7 for the typical Canadian town its size, and everything else, 40.7 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.
Inside Metchosin’s A− for safety
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: #14 of 251 in British Columbia and #306 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 Metchosin, by type
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 | 1.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 7 | 1.3 | 39% |
| Possession of stolen property | 2.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 4 | 0.8 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 19.3 | 3.7 | 4% |
| Mischief | 20.3 | 3.9 | 6% |
| Weapons violations | 1.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 6.7 | 1.3 | 85% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 6.3 | 1.2 | 27% |
| Drug violations | 2.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Impaired driving | 18.3 | 3.5 | 64% |
| 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.
Metchosin’s index fell 23% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (45.8); 2025 was the lightest, at 35.3. The typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Metchosin | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 35.3 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 40.8 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 45.8 | 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 Metchosin, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
By its index, Metchosin stands 3rd of 40 towns its size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwood Ontario | 5,308 | 25.2 | 31.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay British Columbia | 5,243 | 36.8 | 46.9 | A |
| 3 | Metchosin British Columbia | 5,207 | 40.7 | 41.3 | A− |
| 4 | Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce Quebec | 5,339 | 44 | 75.8 | A− |
| 5 | Windsor Quebec | 5,368 | 45 | 82.8 | A− |
| 6 | Saint-Denis-de-Brompton Quebec | 5,249 | 45 | 82.8 | A− |
| … | |||||
| 8 | Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley British Columbia | 5,156 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 9 | Cobble Hill British Columbia | 5,074 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 16 | Electoral Area C, North Okanagan British Columbia | 5,029 | 61.3 | 74.1 | B− |
| … | |||||
| 25 | Gibsons British Columbia | 5,090 | 76.6 | 94 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Nipawin Saskatchewan | 5,033 | 182.3 | 163.9 | 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 Metchosin in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Around 37 violent incidents a year on Metchosin’s police records (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 83 property crimes, plus 48 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 Metchosin
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metchosin | 5,207 | 40.7 | 41.3 | A− |
| Colwood | 22,794 | 49.8 | 63.6 | B+ |
| Langford | 59,664 | 65.9 | 65.9 | B− |
| View Royal | 12,795 | 54.5 | 53.9 | B |
| New Songhees 1A | 2,052 | — | — | — |
| Sooke | 17,248 | 81.4 | 79.8 | C |
| Esquimalt | 19,512 | 43 | 65.7 | A− |
Every neighbour with a figure of its own has a higher index than Metchosin.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. 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.
- What the index measures. Police-reported incidents, each multiplied by a weight drawn from court sentences, summed and divided by the population: that is the index, and its makers attach a caution, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
Questions about safety in Metchosin
Is Metchosin safe?
The short answer is an index of 40.7 for Metchosin (2023–2025), built from 6.9 violent incidents and 15.7 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Metchosin?
Top of the list is fraud (5.1 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 4.4, and Criminal Code traffic offences, at 3.9, follow.
Is crime going up in Metchosin?
It went down 23% between 2023 and 2025, from 45.8 to 35.3.
How much of Metchosin’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 30% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 42% of violent crime and 25% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Metchosin alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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).