Photo: Fungus Guy · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer crimes per resident are recorded in Laird than in 91% of Canadian towns
Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 57.2 and 28.1. Measured on crime the police covering Laird reported between 2023 and 2025, it earns a Safety Grade of A. On top of that, the local count comes to 5.2 violent incidents and 11.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 people each year, with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Both towns on its borders with figures record more crime per resident.
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.
What stands out about safety in Laird
More crime solved
Weighted by seriousness, 57% of crime in Laird ends in a charge or is otherwise solved: 84% of violent crime and 39% of the rest. Across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 34%. Questions ↓
Lower than most of Ontario
Within Ontario, the median town comes to 56.2 on the index, against 36.2 in Laird. Towns its size ↓
Violent crime leads the index
Violent crime scores 57.2 on Laird’s index against 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+; non-violent crime, 28.1 against 62.8. By type ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
What sits behind Laird’s A
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.
About 6 violent incidents a year reached Laird’s police, 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 14 property crimes and 4 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Laird’s index year by year
Crime Severity Index
2024 stands out as the heaviest year at 49.4, with 2023 the lightest at 26. 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 | Laird | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 33.2 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 49.4 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 26 | 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 Laird, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Which crimes make up Laird’s figures
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 0.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 0 | 0 | — |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0 | 0 | — |
| Robbery | 0.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 0 | 0 | — |
| Other violent violations | 0.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 1 | 0.8 | — |
| Possession of stolen property | 0.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 1 | 0.8 | — |
| Theft over $5,000 | 0.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Theft under $5,000 | 3.7 | 3 | — |
| Mischief | 2.3 | 1.9 | — |
| Weapons violations | 0.7 | 0.6 | — |
| Administration of justice violations | 0.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 0.3 | 0.3 | — |
| Drug violations | 0.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Impaired driving | 0.7 | 0.5 | — |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0 | 0 | — |
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.
Crime in the places around Laird
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laird | 1,221 | 36.2 | 57.2 | A |
| Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional | 1,771 | 302.3 | 509 | D− |
| St. Joseph | 1,560 | 302.3 | 509 | D− |
| Garden River 14 | 1,205 | — | — | — |
Each neighbour with its own figure comes in over Laird.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Severity, weighed. The index weighs crimes rather than counting them: a serious offence moves it far more than a minor one. Statistics Canada is plain about its limits: “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- A small police area. With roughly 1,221 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.”
- 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.
- The clearance rate. 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.
Questions about safety in Laird
Is Laird safe?
Police-reported crime in Laird scores 36.2 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (2023–2025 mean), with 5.2 violent incidents and 11.4 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 Laird?
Top of the list is fraud (3.8 per 1,000 residents a year); theft under $5,000, at 3, and mischief, at 1.9, follow.
Is crime going up in Laird?
Yes: the index rose 28%, from 26 in 2023 to 33.2 in 2025. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of Laird’s crime do police solve?
57%, by the weighted clearance rate, where the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ manages 34%. Violent crime is cleared at 84% and non-violent crime at 39%.
Whose figures are these?
They are Laird’s own: its police cover the town and no other.
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).