Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Witless Bay has more crime per resident than three in four Canadian towns
The index that weighs each crime by its seriousness comes to 90.3 here (2023–2025 mean), and to 67.2 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. For solved cases, the weighted rate is 25%, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. On the record of crime the police covering Witless Bay reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes C for safety. In a usual year, 13.4 violent incidents and 33.1 incidents of property crime are logged per 1,000 inhabitants; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 12.0 and 31.2.
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, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Holyrood detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Witless Bay
Mischief: high for a town its size
Witless Bay records 14.7 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 ↓
Heavier on property and other crime
Witless Bay scores 68.4 for violence and 99.9 for other crime; the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ scores 86.4 and 62.8. By type ↓
Down since 2023
From 95.1 in 2023 to 79.3 in 2025: that is Witless Bay’s index, against 70.6 and 62.9 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Year by year ↓
Close to Newfoundland and Labrador’s typical town
Within Newfoundland and Labrador, the median town comes to 81 on the index, against 90.3 in Witless Bay. 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 Witless Bay’s grade
How sure: Not as firm as most grades. Its figures come from the nearest detachment, 26 km off, which covers its own area rather than Witless Bay.
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.
Crime in Witless Bay, type by type
Against the typical town its size, Witless Bay runs highest on drug offences (3.6 per 1,000 against 0.7), mischief (14.7 per 1,000 against 4.2) and break and enter (4.7 per 1,000 against 2.5). Fraud 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 | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 2.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Other violent violations | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 34.3 | 4.7 | 23% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 17.7 | 2.4 | 19% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 2 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 47.7 | 6.5 | 4% |
| Mischief | 108.7 | 14.7 | 5% |
| Weapons violations | 7 | 0.9 | 29% |
| Administration of justice violations | 43.7 | 5.9 | 51% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 18.3 | 2.5 | 31% |
| Drug violations | 26.7 | 3.6 | 29% |
| Impaired driving | 52.3 | 7.1 | 42% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.3 | 0.05 | — |
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.
Year by year in Witless Bay: down 17%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
2024 was the peak (96.6) and 2025 the trough (79.3). 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 | Witless Bay | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 79.3 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 96.6 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 95.1 | 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 Witless Bay, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
The detachment closest to Witless Bay, 7,410 residents, recorded about 99 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.
And about 240 property crimes, plus 210 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 Witless Bay
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witless Bay | 1,833 | 90.3 | 68.4 | C |
| Bay Bulls | 1,699 | 90.3 | 68.4 | C |
| Division No. 1, Subdivision U | 1,522 | 67.4 | 42.5 | B− |
Where a neighbour shares its police, it shares the figure too, and isn’t counted above.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- How serious, not how safe. Statistics Canada builds the index from every crime police record, weighted by how seriously the courts treat it, and divides by the population. It adds a warning of its own: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- Reading the number. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
- Solved cases. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
Questions about safety in Witless Bay
Is Witless Bay safe?
Witless Bay scores 90.3 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), where the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2; per 1,000 residents a year that is 13.4 violent incidents and 33.1 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Witless Bay?
Mischief is the most common, at 14.7 per 1,000 residents a year, then other Criminal Code offences (12.7) and Criminal Code traffic offences (11.1).
Is crime going up in Witless Bay?
It went down 17% between 2023 and 2025, from 95.1 to 79.3.
How much of Witless Bay’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 25% of crime (40% of violent crime, 21% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Witless Bay 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).