Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0More crimes per resident are recorded in Smiths Falls than in 80% of Canadian towns
Split in two, the index gives 147.6 for violence and 89 for everything else (normally 89.4 and 56). On the record of crime the police covering Smiths Falls reported from 2023 to 2025, it takes C− for safety: #813 of 862 in Ontario. Police counts work out at 24.9 violent incidents and 43.1 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical town its size they are 12.0 and 30.5. What’s more, its 4 neighbours with figures all record less 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 Smiths Falls
Mischief: high for a town its size
Smiths Falls records 11.2 incidents of mischief per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people. By type ↓
Higher than most of Ontario
Set among Ontario’s towns, whose median is 56.2, Smiths Falls scores 105.1. Towns its size ↓
Above-typical clearance
For Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people the typical clearance rate is 33%; Smiths Falls’s police clear 55%, 73% of violent crime and 43% of the rest. Questions ↓
Lighter than in 2023
In 2023 the index in Smiths Falls stood at 118.9, by 2025 at 92.7. Over the same years the typical Canadian town its size went from 69.5 to 60. Year by year ↓
Written from Statistics Canada’s police-reported crime by police service and detachment, 2023–2025. Figures are what police recorded, not convictions.
Inside Smiths Falls’s C− for safety
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: #813 of 862 in Ontario and #1,949 of 2,572 Canadian towns.
The Crime Severity Index and its two halves, beside the typical figure for Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
What police record in Smiths Falls, by type
Against the typical town its size, Smiths Falls runs highest on mischief (11.2 per 1,000 against 3.7), sexual assault (1.9 per 1,000 against 0.8) and drug offences (1.9 per 1,000 against 0.8). Motor vehicle theft sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0 | 0 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.7 | 0.3 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 12.3 | 1.2 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 0.3 | 0.03 | — |
| Robbery | 7.3 | 0.7 | 73% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3 | 0.3 | — |
| Other violent violations | 8.3 | 0.8 | 45% |
| Breaking and entering | 33 | 3.2 | 25% |
| Possession of stolen property | 3.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 16.7 | 1.6 | 24% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 5.3 | 0.5 | 32% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 196.3 | 18.6 | 25% |
| Mischief | 118.3 | 11.2 | 37% |
| Weapons violations | 17 | 1.6 | 72% |
| Administration of justice violations | 179.3 | 17 | 84% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 13.3 | 1.3 | 53% |
| Drug violations | 20.3 | 1.9 | 99% |
| Impaired driving | 11.3 | 1 | 100% |
| 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 10,000 to 50,000 people.
In Smiths Falls, down 22% between 2023 and 2025
Crime Severity Index
From 118.9 in 2023, its first and heaviest year, it eased to a low of 92.7 in 2025. In the same years the typical Canadian town its size read 69.5 (2023), then 60 (2025).
Every year as a table
| Year | Smiths Falls | Typical town its size |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 92.7 | 60 |
| 2024 | 103.6 | 67.9 |
| 2023 | 118.9 | 69.5 |
Statistics Canada, Crime Severity Index by police service, each year as published. Typical: the median of Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people.
The Crime Severity Index of the police covering Smiths Falls, each year, against the typical Canadian town its size.
Smiths Falls comes 34th of the 40 towns nearest in size
| # | Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drayton Ontario | 11,518 | 29 | 28.2 | A+ |
| 2 | Millbrook Ontario | 11,507 | 31.7 | 42.8 | A |
| 3 | Shelburne Ontario | 10,767 | 35.2 | 52.8 | A |
| 4 | Thornbury Ontario | 11,162 | 36.5 | 46.3 | A |
| … | |||||
| 31 | Lacombe County Alberta | 11,072 | 94.9 | 66.9 | C− |
| 32 | Lethbridge County Alberta | 10,988 | 96 | 62 | C− |
| 33 | Estevan Saskatchewan | 11,391 | 103.1 | 136.2 | C− |
| 34 | Smiths Falls Ontario | 11,093 | 105.1 | 147.6 | C− |
| 35 | La Tuque Quebec | 11,309 | 106.1 | 199 | C− |
| 36 | Yellowhead County Alberta | 10,966 | 120 | 99.2 | D |
| 37 | Sechelt British Columbia | 11,558 | 141.3 | 114.9 | D |
| … | |||||
| 40 | Williams Lake British Columbia | 11,462 | 248.9 | 248.6 | 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 Smiths Falls in population, the lowest Crime Severity Index first (2023–2025 means).
Police in Smiths Falls recorded about 260 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.
Add about 450 property crimes and 290 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
Crime in the places around Smiths Falls
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smiths Falls | 11,093 | 105.1 | 147.6 | C− |
| Montague | 4,414 | 30.8 | 39.6 | A+ |
| Merrickville | 3,411 | 35.2 | 36.4 | A |
| Drummond/North Elmsley | 8,817 | 28.8 | 34.8 | A+ |
| Perth | 6,972 | 72.7 | 120.3 | C+ |
The places around Smiths Falls all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Montague (6.9 km away), scores 30.8 against 105.1.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- What the index measures. The Crime Severity Index adds up police-reported crime, each kind weighted by the sentences courts give it, so one robbery counts for more than many thefts. In Statistics Canada’s words, “The CSI is not an indicator of overall safety and should be interpreted in the broader community context.”
- 100 is Canada in 2006. A reading of 100 is the whole country in 2006. Half of that, 50, means half the severity per resident.
- Cleared, not convicted. 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.
Questions about safety in Smiths Falls
Is Smiths Falls safe?
Statistics Canada puts Smiths Falls at 105.1 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people sit at 66 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 24.9 and property crimes at 43.1 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Smiths Falls?
Most often it is other Criminal Code offences: 23.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come theft under $5,000 at 18.6 and mischief at 11.2.
Is crime going up in Smiths Falls?
Down 22%: 118.9 in 2023, 92.7 in 2025.
How much of Smiths Falls’s crime do police solve?
Police solve 73% of violent crime and 43% of everything else, 55% overall once each crime is weighted by seriousness, against 33% for the typical Canadian town its size.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or contract that serves Smiths Falls alone, so the figures are the town’s.
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).