Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRecorded crime in Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen is close to typical for Canadian towns
Its two neighbours with figures both record more crime per resident. Still, the overall Safety Grade is C+, which means close to the middle of Canadian towns, judged on crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025. In 2023 the index stood at 74.3; it fell to 68.8 in 2025. Police clear 24% of crime, weighted by seriousness; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%.
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 Penticton detachment area, not by town.
What stands out about safety in Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen
Crime per resident, visitors uncounted
With 40% of its homes not lived in all year, Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen counts its crime against a smaller year-round population than the one that is there in season. How to read it ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen records 8.2 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 4.2 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen’s index splits into violent crime, 63.7 here and 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, and everything else, 75.8 against 62.8. By type ↓
Near the British Columbia middle
Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen’s index of 71.9 compares with 83.2 for the typical town in British Columbia. 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.
Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen: C+ for safety, and why
How sure: A less certain grade than most, because the figures belong to the nearest detachment, 14 km from Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen, 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.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more.
What police record in Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen, by type
Against the typical town its size, Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen runs highest on mischief (8.2 per 1,000 against 4.2), motor vehicle theft (4.3 per 1,000 against 2.4) and fraud (5.9 per 1,000 against 5.1). 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 | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 2.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.05 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 30.3 | 2.4 | 12% |
| Possession of stolen property | 25.3 | 2 | 26% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 54 | 4.3 | 3% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 9.3 | 0.7 | 0% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 97.7 | 7.7 | 2% |
| Mischief | 103.3 | 8.2 | 19% |
| Weapons violations | 7.3 | 0.6 | 32% |
| Administration of justice violations | 25 | 2 | 59% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 26.7 | 2.1 | 26% |
| Drug violations | 5 | 0.4 | 60% |
| Impaired driving | 28 | 2.2 | 80% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 6 | 0.5 | 28% |
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.
Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 74.3, and 2025 the lightest at 68.8. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, runs from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 68.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 72.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 74.3 | 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 Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
About 160 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen (12,400 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 410 property crimes, plus 180 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 Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen | 2,372 | 71.9 | 63.7 | C+ |
| Okanagan Falls | 4,002 | 71.9 | 63.7 | C+ |
| Penticton 1 | 2,147 | — | — | — |
| Penticton | 39,068 | 164 | 142.9 | D |
| Electoral Area F, Okanagan-Similkameen | 2,149 | 71.9 | 63.7 | C+ |
| Electoral Area C, Okanagan-Similkameen | 4,103 | 113.4 | 144 | C− |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen. Neighbours policed by the same service carry the same figure, so the 2 of them aren’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What 100 means. 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.
- The clearance rate. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- 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.”
Questions about safety in Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen
Is Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen safe?
Its police recorded 12.8 violent incidents and 32.3 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen a Crime Severity Index of 71.9. For Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more, the typical index is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen?
The three biggest groups are other Criminal Code offences at 8.9, mischief at 8.2 and theft under $5,000 at 7.7, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen?
Down 7%: 74.3 in 2023, 68.8 in 2025.
How much of Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen’s crime do police solve?
24%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 49% and non-violent crime at 15%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Electoral Area I, Okanagan-Similkameen 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).