Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY 3.0Recorded crime per resident is higher in Cardwell than in 72% of Canadian towns
Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 92.8 and 84. Graded on crime the police covering Cardwell reported from 2023 to 2025, it scores C for safety. Add to that, for every 1,000 residents, 16.7 violent incidents and 36.2 incidents of property crime were logged a year; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, the figures are 12.0 and 31.2. Between 2023 and 2025 the severity figure fell, 94.8 to 89.1.
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. Shared with the rest of the Sussex detachment area: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts.
What stands out about safety in Cardwell
Mischief: high for a town its size
Cardwell records 10.1 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 ↓
About the New Brunswick norm
Set among New Brunswick’s towns, whose median is 72.8, Cardwell scores 86. 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.
Cardwell: C for safety, and why
How sure: A less certain grade than most, because the figures belong to the nearest detachment, 16 km from Cardwell, 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 Cardwell, by type
Against the typical town its size, Cardwell runs highest on mischief (10.1 per 1,000 against 4.2), break and enter (5.2 per 1,000 against 2.5) and fraud (6.1 per 1,000 against 5.1). 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 | 11.7 | 0.6 | 60% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 5.3 | 0.3 | 75% |
| Robbery | 3 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Other violent violations | 6.7 | 0.3 | 40% |
| Breaking and entering | 102 | 5.2 | 17% |
| Possession of stolen property | 18.3 | 0.9 | 48% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 43.3 | 2.2 | 15% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 8.7 | 0.4 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 212.3 | 10.8 | 28% |
| Mischief | 198 | 10.1 | 7% |
| Weapons violations | 9.7 | 0.5 | 52% |
| Administration of justice violations | 73.7 | 3.7 | 62% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 27 | 1.4 | 17% |
| Drug violations | 17.7 | 0.9 | 36% |
| Impaired driving | 58.7 | 3 | 55% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
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.
About 330 violent incidents a year in the area of the detachment nearest Cardwell (20,000 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.
Add about 710 property crimes and 320 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Cardwell, year by year
Crime Severity Index
Its highest year was 2023, at 94.8, and its lowest 2024, at 74.1. In the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ read 70.6 (2023), then 62.9 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Cardwell | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 89.1 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 74.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 94.8 | 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 Cardwell, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Cardwell
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardwell | 1,538 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| Sussex Corner | 1,532 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| Studholm | 3,668 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
| Sussex | 4,994 | 86 | 92.8 | C |
Its police also cover 3 neighbouring places, which carry the same index and are left out above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What clearance means. 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.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- The index’s scale. 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.
Questions about safety in Cardwell
Is Cardwell safe?
With 16.7 violent incidents and 36.2 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Cardwell comes to 86 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more have a median of 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Cardwell?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 10.8 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of mischief (10.1) and other Criminal Code offences (10).
Is crime going up in Cardwell?
Over 2023–2025 the index dropped 6%, to 89.1 from 94.8.
How much of Cardwell’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 28% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 49% of violent crime and 18% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Cardwell and other places, so the figures are shared.
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).