Photo: Leoboudv · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in South Surrey than in 76% of Canadian towns
Its Crime Severity Index dropped from 104.1 in 2023 to 89.1 by 2025. By contrast, the grade is C−, built on crime the police covering South Surrey reported from 2023 to 2025: #136 of 251 in British Columbia. Of the two halves, violence comes to 75.5 and other offences to 101.5, beside norms of 75.2 and 54.2. Annual rates stand at 9.7 violent incidents and 31.0 incidents of property crime for every thousand residents, next to 10.8 and 25.1 in the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
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. Area behind the crime severity and crime rate figures: the Surrey service area.
What stands out about safety in South Surrey
Police clear less here
Weighted by seriousness, 15% of crime in South Surrey ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 36% of violent crime and 8% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more the figure is 38%. Questions ↓
The non-violent half stands out
Violent crime scores 75.5 on South Surrey’s index against 75.2 for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+; non-violent crime, 101.5 against 54.2. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
The grade: C− for South Surrey
How sure: Less sure, since one city-wide figure stands behind it, and South Surrey can differ a long way from its city’s average.
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: #136 of 251 in British Columbia and #1,836 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
What Surrey’s police record, by type
These are Surrey’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Surrey runs highest on Cannabis Act offences (2.5 per 1,000 against 0.04), drug offences (4 per 1,000 against 0.9) and theft under $5,000 (16.6 per 1,000 against 11.5).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 8.7 | 0.02 | 61% |
| Sexual violations against children | 175.7 | 0.3 | 23% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 85.3 | 0.1 | 94% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 21 | 0.04 | 32% |
| Robbery | 304.7 | 0.5 | 29% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 23 | 0.04 | 75% |
| Other violent violations | 55.3 | 0.1 | 29% |
| Breaking and entering | 1,019.7 | 2 | 9% |
| Possession of stolen property | 117 | 0.2 | 49% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 871.7 | 1.6 | 4% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 289 | 0.6 | 8% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 8,757 | 16.6 | 9% |
| Mischief | 2,447 | 4.5 | 9% |
| Weapons violations | 275 | 0.5 | 43% |
| Administration of justice violations | 888.7 | 1.6 | 75% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 306.7 | 0.6 | 30% |
| Drug violations | 1,855.7 | 4 | 11% |
| Impaired driving | 848.3 | 1.6 | 94% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 384.3 | 0.7 | 13% |
Statistics Canada’s violation groups for the whole police service or detachment: incidents a year are its own, the town’s share is only estimated in the tiles. 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 50,000 people or more.
South Surrey, year by year
Crime Severity Index
The first year, 2023, was the heaviest at 104.1, and 2024 the lightest at 87.5. The typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Surrey Police Service took over from the RCMP on 29 November 2024. The figures here are the RCMP Surrey detachment’s for 2023–2025, the only full three years; the new service reports 2025 alone.
Every year as a table
| Year | South Surrey | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 89.1 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 87.5 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 104.1 | 64.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering South Surrey, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around South Surrey
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Surrey | 6,431 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Anderson Walk | 4,210 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Morgan Creek | 8,084 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Sunnyside | 16,784 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| Semiahmoo Town Centre | 13,381 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
| White Rock | 25,057 | 82.6 | 87.2 | C |
| Crescent Heights | 9,033 | 93.6 | 75.5 | C− |
Sharing its police with 5 neighbours, it shares their figure as well, so they aren’t compared.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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.”
- One figure for the city. Its city publishes no open neighbourhood crime figures, so every figure for South Surrey is the city police’s, for the whole city.
- 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.
- The clearance rate. 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.
Questions about safety in South Surrey
Is South Surrey safe?
Its police recorded 9.7 violent incidents and 31 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives South Surrey a Crime Severity Index of 93.6. Set that beside 60.3, the median for Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more.
What is the most common crime in South Surrey?
Top of the list is theft under $5,000 (16.6 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 15.4, and fraud, at 5.3, follow.
Is crime going up in South Surrey?
Down 14%: 104.1 in 2023, 89.1 in 2025.
How much of South Surrey’s crime do police solve?
Counting serious crimes for more, 15% end in a charge or are otherwise solved (38% for the typical Canadian town of 50,000+); split up, that is 36% of violent and 8% of non-violent crime.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police service that covers the whole city.
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).