Photo: awmcphee · CC0Per resident, Fort Smith records more crime than 98% of Canadian towns
Its violent half comes to 458.2 and its non-violent half to 355.9, where the norm is 86.4 and 62.8. Scored on crime the police covering Fort Smith reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on D− for safety. Violence and property crime split as 96.3 violent incidents and 175.6 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, beside 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. Area behind the crime severity, crime rate and incident counts figures: the Fort Smith detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Fort Smith
Mischief: high for a town its size
Fort Smith records 144 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.
The grade: D− for Fort Smith
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 Fort Smith’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Fort Smith runs highest on mischief (144 per 1,000 against 4.2), drug offences (21.7 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (58.9 per 1,000 against 6.7). Fraud sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 1.3 | 0.5 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 8.7 | 3.5 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 4 | 1.6 | — |
| Robbery | 2.3 | 0.9 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4.7 | 1.9 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 13 | 5.2 | 36% |
| Possession of stolen property | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 8.7 | 3.5 | 31% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 43.3 | 17.5 | 20% |
| Mischief | 356.3 | 144 | 34% |
| Weapons violations | 6 | 2.4 | 67% |
| Administration of justice violations | 86.3 | 34.9 | 66% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 19.3 | 7.8 | 31% |
| Drug violations | 53.7 | 21.7 | 10% |
| Impaired driving | 52.3 | 21.1 | 36% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.3 | — |
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.
2,480 residents, about 240 violent incidents a year: the police area Fort Smith belongs to, 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 430 property crimes, plus 330 other violations, a year (2023–2025 average). Each dot is one resident; each coloured dot, one incident a year at the area’s rates.
Three years of Fort Smith’s crime index
Crime Severity Index
2025, the last year shown, came out highest at 433.4, and 2023 lowest at 284.2. 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 | Fort Smith | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 433.4 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 430.8 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 284.2 | 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 Fort Smith, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- A small police area. With roughly 2,484 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.”
- Town and surroundings together. The detachment counts crime across its whole territory, of which Fort Smith is one part.
- Reading the number. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Solved cases. 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.
- How serious, not how safe. 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 Fort Smith
Is Fort Smith safe?
Fort Smith’s Crime Severity Index is 382.8 (2023–2025 mean); its police record 96.3 violent incidents and 175.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year. The typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Fort Smith?
Police record mischief most, 144 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of other Criminal Code offences (87.1) and assault (58.9).
Is crime going up in Fort Smith?
It went up 52% between 2023 and 2025, from 284.2 to 433.4. A small or partial count makes this change uncertain.
How much of Fort Smith’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 37%: 55% for violent crime and 27% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Fort Smith 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).