Photo: Sarbelito Avila · CC BY-SA 3.0Recorded crime in Lake Echo is close to typical for Canadian towns
For solved cases, the weighted rate is 31%, where the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ manages 38%. Against usual levels of 75.2 and 54.2, violent and non-violent offences here reach 94.3 and 62.8. In sum, crime its police reported from 2023 to 2025 put Lake Echo at C+ (#17 of 88 in Nova Scotia): close to the middle of Canadian towns. Typical years here bring 13.8 violent incidents plus 37.3 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, against 10.8 plus 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. Shared with the rest of the Halifax Metropolitan Area service area: crime severity and crime rate.
Lake Echo: C+ for safety, and why
How sure: Less sure, since one city-wide figure stands behind it, and Lake Echo 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: #17 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,398 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 Halifax Metropolitan Area’s police record, by type
These are Halifax Metropolitan Area’s figures, for its police’s whole area: they aren’t published by neighbourhood.
Against the typical town its size, Halifax Metropolitan Area runs highest on theft under $5,000 (24 per 1,000 against 11.5), assault (6.7 per 1,000 against 4.9) and mischief (5.1 per 1,000 against 3.8). Break and enter sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 9.7 | 0.02 | 65% |
| Sexual violations against children | 124.7 | 0.2 | 34% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 232.7 | 0.5 | 94% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 44.7 | 0.09 | 51% |
| Robbery | 289.7 | 0.6 | 48% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 59 | 0.1 | 92% |
| Other violent violations | 151.3 | 0.3 | 48% |
| Breaking and entering | 920.7 | 1.8 | 20% |
| Possession of stolen property | 123 | 0.2 | 70% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 462.3 | 0.9 | 14% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 200.3 | 0.4 | 17% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 12,134 | 24 | 12% |
| Mischief | 2,574 | 5.1 | 12% |
| Weapons violations | 299.3 | 0.6 | 44% |
| Administration of justice violations | 2,638.3 | 5.2 | 81% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 437.3 | 0.9 | 43% |
| Drug violations | 335.7 | 0.7 | 37% |
| Impaired driving | 773.7 | 1.5 | 88% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 36 | 0.07 | 24% |
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.
Year by year in Lake Echo: steady, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year fell in the middle, 2024, at 73.5; 2025 was the lightest, at 68.7. Set beside it, the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ went from 64.3 in 2023 to 59.2 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Lake Echo | Typical town of 50,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 68.7 | 59.2 |
| 2024 | 73.5 | 59.9 |
| 2023 | 71.9 | 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 Lake Echo, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 50,000+.
Crime in the places around Lake Echo
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Echo | 5,223 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| East Preston | 2,573 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Lawrencetown | 3,509 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Gaetz Brook | 4,473 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Westphal | 4,201 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| East Lawrencetown | 4,020 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
| Cole Harbour | 21,627 | 71.4 | 94.3 | C+ |
Sharing its police with 6 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
- What clearance means. 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.
- An index, not a verdict. 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.”
- One figure for the city. No open data breaks the city’s crime down by neighbourhood, so Lake Echo carries the city-wide figures.
- The index’s scale. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
Questions about safety in Lake Echo
Is Lake Echo safe?
With 13.8 violent incidents and 37.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Lake Echo comes to 71.4 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 50,000 people or more have a median of 60.3.
What is the most common crime in Lake Echo?
Police record theft under $5,000 most, 24 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (8) and assault (6.7).
Is crime going up in Lake Echo?
It held about level between 2023 and 2025, 71.9 to 68.7.
How much of Lake Echo’s crime do police solve?
31%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 50,000+ manages 38%. Violent crime is cleared at 49% and non-violent crime at 20%.
Whose figures are these?
The city police’s, as reported for 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).