Photo: https://www.flickr.com/people/99116641@N00/ · CC BY-SA 2.0Per resident, Harbour Breton records less crime than 62% of Canadian towns
A Safety Grade of B follows from crime the police covering Harbour Breton reported over the years 2023 to 2025. Of the two halves, violence comes to 69.3 and other offences to 48.7, beside norms of 86.4 and 62.8. The yearly rates were 12.5 violent incidents and 13.2 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, set against 12.0 and 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. Data for crime severity, crime rate and incident counts covers the Harbour Breton detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Harbour Breton
Lower than most of Newfoundland and Labrador
Set among Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns, whose median is 81, Harbour Breton scores 54.2. Towns its size ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Harbour Breton records 8.1 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 ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Harbour Breton: B for safety, and why
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 Harbour Breton, by type
Against the typical town its size, Harbour Breton runs highest on mischief (8.1 per 1,000 against 4.2). Assault sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 2 | 0.6 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 5 | 1.5 | 26% |
| Possession of stolen property | 0 | 0 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 1.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 3 | 0.9 | — |
| Mischief | 28 | 8.1 | 12% |
| Weapons violations | 1.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 9 | 2.6 | 59% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 4 | 1.2 | — |
| Drug violations | 8.7 | 2.5 | 20% |
| Impaired driving | 13.7 | 4 | 7% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 2 | 0.6 | — |
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.
The police area Harbour Breton is part of, 3,420 residents, recorded about 43 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 45 property crimes and 49 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
The index in Harbour Breton, each year
Crime Severity Index
2023 opened the run as its heaviest year (54.9); 2024 was the lightest, at 53.6. Over 2023–2025, the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ moved from 70.6 to 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Harbour Breton | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 54.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 53.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 54.9 | 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 Harbour Breton, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Harbour Breton
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbour Breton | 1,481 | 54.2 | 69.3 | B |
| Grand Bank (42 km) | 2,082 | 54.2 | 69.3 | B |
| Fortune (45 km) | 1,249 | 54.2 | 69.3 | B |
| St. Alban's (45 km) | 1,093 | 54.2 | 69.3 | B |
Neighbours policed by the same service carry the same figure, so the 3 of them aren’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Harbour Breton with figures are 42–45 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Small numbers. With roughly 3,415 residents in its police area, a few cases swing the figures. In Statistics Canada’s words, “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- A detachment’s area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Harbour Breton together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- 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.
- Cleared, not convicted. 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.
- 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 Harbour Breton
Is Harbour Breton safe?
The short answer is an index of 54.2 for Harbour Breton (2023–2025), built from 12.5 violent incidents and 13.2 property crimes a year for every 1,000 residents. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Harbour Breton?
Top of the list is mischief (8.1 per 1,000 residents a year); other Criminal Code offences, at 6.3, and assault, at 5.7, follow.
Is crime going up in Harbour Breton?
The index stayed close to where it was, 54.9 in 2023 and 54.2 in 2025. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of Harbour Breton’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 33% of crime (51% of violent crime, 23% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Harbour Breton 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).