Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY-SA 3.0For recorded crime, Dorchester sits in the middle of Canadian towns
About 28% of crime here is cleared by police, set against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. On Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index, the 2023–2025 average is 58.4, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ sits at 67.2. Its letter overall is B: close to the middle of Canadian towns, from crime its police reported through 2023 to 2025. Typical years here bring 10.8 violent incidents plus 19.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 12.0 plus 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
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 for the Sackville detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Dorchester
Less severe than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Dorchester stood at 84.1, by 2025 at 64.2. Over the same years the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 to 62.9. Year by year ↓
Much like New Brunswick’s towns
Within New Brunswick, the median town comes to 72.8 on the index, against 58.4 in Dorchester. 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.
What’s behind Dorchester’s grade
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 10 km from Dorchester, since none reports under the town’s name.
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.
Which crimes make up Dorchester’s figures
Theft under $5,000 sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 3.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
| Robbery | 1.7 | 0.1 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1 | 0.09 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 22.7 | 2 | 6% |
| Possession of stolen property | 17 | 1.5 | 28% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 26.3 | 2.4 | 4% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 51 | 4.6 | 18% |
| Mischief | 53 | 4.7 | 4% |
| Weapons violations | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 19 | 1.7 | 59% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 10 | 0.9 | 7% |
| Drug violations | 10 | 0.9 | 23% |
| Impaired driving | 22.3 | 2 | 48% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 1.3 | 0.1 | — |
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.
In Dorchester, down 24% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (84.1); 2024 was the lightest, at 26.9. 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 | Dorchester | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 64.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 26.9 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 84.1 | 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 Dorchester, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
The detachment nearest Dorchester, 11,300 residents: around 120 violent incidents a year, 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 210 property crimes and 110 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Dorchester
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester | 1,130 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Memramcook | 5,616 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Sackville | 1,286 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Sackville | 6,572 | 86.9 | 110.4 | C |
| Hillsborough | 1,414 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
| Hillsborough | 1,569 | 58.4 | 80 | B |
Its police also cover 4 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
- Cleared, not convicted. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- 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.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Dorchester
Is Dorchester safe?
Statistics Canada puts Dorchester at 58.4 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more sit at 67.2 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 10.8 and property crimes at 19.2 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Dorchester?
Most often it is mischief: 4.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come theft under $5,000 at 4.6 and other Criminal Code offences at 4.5.
Is crime going up in Dorchester?
Down 24%: 84.1 in 2023, 64.2 in 2025.
How much of Dorchester’s crime do police solve?
28%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 51% and non-violent crime at 15%.
Whose figures are these?
A shared service or detachment’s, reported as one for Dorchester and everywhere else it polices.
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).