Photo: Art Anderson · CC BY-SA 3.0Centre Hastings records less crime per resident than three in four Canadian towns
Its violent half comes to 68 and its non-violent half to 38.7, where the norm is 85.7 and 62.8. Out of every 1,000 residents, 8.5 violent incidents and 15.5 incidents of property crime are reported annually, against 12.9 and 31.2 in the typical town its size. On top of that, from 2023 to 2025, crime the police covering Centre Hastings reported put it at B+ for safety: #249 of 862 in Ontario.
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 Central Hastings detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Centre Hastings
A lower index than most towns its size
Line up the 40 Canadian towns nearest in size by their index and Centre Hastings stands 7th, the lowest first. Towns its size ↓
More crime solved
Weighted by seriousness, 50% of crime in Centre Hastings ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 78% of violent crime and 30% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Easing since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Centre Hastings moved from 46.1 to 37.6, while the typical Canadian town its size went from 74.3 to 64.2. Year by year ↓
Close to Ontario’s typical town
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 46.8 in Centre Hastings. 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 Centre Hastings’s grade
How sure: Less sure, as Centre Hastings has no detachment of its own in Statistics Canada’s tables and is graded on the closest one’s figures, 20 km away.
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: #249 of 862 in Ontario and #455 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
Which crimes make up Centre Hastings’s figures
Against the typical town its size, Centre Hastings runs highest on sexual assault (1.2 per 1,000 against 0.9). Motor vehicle theft 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 | 5 | 0.3 | 94% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 1.7 | 0.09 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.05 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.03 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.3 | 0.07 | — |
| Other violent violations | 2 | 0.1 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 32.3 | 1.7 | 25% |
| Possession of stolen property | 4 | 0.2 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 21.7 | 1.1 | 28% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 10 | 0.5 | 17% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 73 | 3.8 | 17% |
| Mischief | 60.7 | 3.1 | 25% |
| Weapons violations | 8.3 | 0.4 | 57% |
| Administration of justice violations | 58 | 3 | 72% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 5 | 0.3 | 46% |
| Drug violations | 13.3 | 0.7 | 75% |
| Impaired driving | 29.3 | 1.5 | 98% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 4 | 0.2 | — |
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 to 10,000 people.
From 2023 to 2025, Centre Hastings’s index dropped 19%
Crime Severity Index
Its index peaked in 2024 at 56.7, between two lighter years; the lowest, 2025, came in at 37.6. The comparison line, the typical Canadian town its size, runs from 74.3 in 2023 to 64.2 by 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Centre Hastings | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 37.6 | 64.2 |
| 2024 | 56.7 | 68.8 |
| 2023 | 46.1 | 74.3 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Centre Hastings, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Among 40 towns its size, Centre Hastings places 7th
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwood Ontario | 5,308 | 25.2 | 31.4 | A+ |
| 2 | Northern Bruce Peninsula Ontario | 5,018 | 29.3 | 46.7 | A+ |
| … | |||||
| 4 | Metchosin British Columbia | 5,207 | 40.7 | 41.3 | A− |
| 5 | Saint-Joseph-de-Beauce Quebec | 5,339 | 44 | 75.8 | A− |
| 6 | Saint-Denis-de-Brompton Quebec | 5,249 | 45 | 82.8 | A− |
| 7 | Centre Hastings Ontario | 5,170 | 46.8 | 68 | B+ |
| 8 | Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley British Columbia | 5,156 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 9 | Cobble Hill British Columbia | 5,074 | 49.9 | 52.5 | B+ |
| 10 | Electoral Area F, Cariboo British Columbia | 5,016 | 51.7 | 55.1 | B+ |
| … | |||||
| 24 | Hearst Ontario | 5,032 | 74.2 | 97.9 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 26 | Central Frontenac Ontario | 5,348 | 78.4 | 112.5 | C+ |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Nipawin Saskatchewan | 5,033 | 182.3 | 163.9 | D |
The 40 Canadian towns of 2,500+ people closest in population; city neighbourhoods, city totals and reserves are left out. Towns on one police service or detachment share its index.
The Canadian towns closest to Centre Hastings in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
The detachment closest to Centre Hastings, 19,500 residents, recorded about 160 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 300 property crimes, plus 150 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 Centre Hastings
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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. 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.
- Severity, weighed. 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.”
- What 100 means. Its scale starts from Canada in 2006, set at 100, so a figure above 100 means more serious crime per resident than the country had then.
Questions about safety in Centre Hastings
Is Centre Hastings safe?
With 8.5 violent incidents and 15.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, Centre Hastings comes to 46.8 on the Crime Severity Index (2023–2025); Canadian towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people have a median of 68.5.
What is the most common crime in Centre Hastings?
Most often it is fraud: 5 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 4.4 and assault at 3.9.
Is crime going up in Centre Hastings?
Down 19%: 46.1 in 2023, 37.6 in 2025.
How much of Centre Hastings’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 50%: 78% for violent crime and 30% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town its size it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Centre Hastings 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).