Photo: Atilin · CC BY-SA 3.0Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle has more crime per resident than 85% of Canadian towns
Both towns next door with figures record less crime per resident. Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s letter for safety is C−, worked out from crime the police covering Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle reported over 2023 to 2025. Police counts work out at 12.3 violent incidents and 11.8 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents annually; in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ they are 12.0 and 31.2. Split in two, the index gives 80.3 for violence and 131.9 for everything else (normally 86.4 and 62.8).
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-wide: crime severity, crime rate and incident counts, counted over the Jardins de Napierville MRC.
What stands out about safety in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle
Drug offences: high for a town its size
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle records 7.8 incidents of drug offences per 1,000 residents a year, against 0.7 in the typical town among Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. By type ↓
Over the Quebec norm
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s index of 116.5 compares with 56.1 for the typical town in Quebec. Towns its size ↓
Property and other crime weigh more
Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s index splits into violent crime, 80.3 here and 86.4 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, and everything else, 131.9 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’s behind Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s grade
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.
What police record in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, by type
Against the typical town its size, Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle runs highest on Cannabis Act offences (5.8 per 1,000 against 0.05) and drug offences (7.8 per 1,000 against 0.7). Fraud sits below it.
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.02 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 25 | 0.8 | 53% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 8.3 | 0.3 | 93% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 1 | 0.03 | — |
| Robbery | 0.7 | 0.02 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 3 | 0.09 | — |
| Other violent violations | 6.7 | 0.2 | 100% |
| Breaking and entering | 41 | 1.3 | 33% |
| Possession of stolen property | 12.3 | 0.4 | 67% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 48.7 | 1.5 | 10% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 18.7 | 0.6 | 9% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 73 | 2.3 | 30% |
| Mischief | 59.3 | 1.8 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 5 | 0.2 | 80% |
| Administration of justice violations | 55.7 | 1.7 | 89% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 206 | 6.4 | 8% |
| Drug violations | 253 | 7.8 | 14% |
| Impaired driving | 67.7 | 2.1 | 95% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 40.7 | 1.3 | 15% |
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.
Year by year in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle: down 15%, 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
It rose to 162.2 in 2024 before easing, with the low of 86.1 in 2025. 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 | Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 86.1 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 162.2 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 101.1 | 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 Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
32,600 residents, about 400 violent incidents a year: the police area Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle 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.
Property crime adds about 380 a year and other violations 1,800 (2023–2025 average). Of 1,000 dots, one per resident, the coloured ones are a year’s incidents at these rates.
Crime in the places around Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle | 1,655 | 116.5 | 80.3 | C− |
| Lacolle | 2,806 | 62.8 | 83.3 | B− |
| Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville | 1,786 | 116.5 | 80.3 | C− |
| Saint-Patrice-de-Sherrington | 1,996 | 116.5 | 80.3 | C− |
| Hemmingford | 2,206 | 116.5 | 80.3 | C− |
| Napierville | 4,187 | 116.5 | 80.3 | C− |
| Noyan | 1,576 | 62.8 | 83.3 | B− |
The places around Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle all score lower on the index. The nearest of them, Lacolle (8.6 km away), scores 62.8 against 116.5. The table leaves out 4 neighbours whose figure is this one, reported by the same police.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Cleared, not convicted. Weighted like the index, so solving one assault counts for more than solving a mischief; a charge laid, recommended or otherwise resolved all count.
- What the index measures. 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.”
- Shared across the MRC. The Sûreté du Québec’s figures are for its MRC as a whole, not for Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle alone.
- 100 is Canada in 2006. Canada’s own index has been below its 2006 base of 100 for years, so 100 marks a fixed reference, not today’s national average.
Questions about safety in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle
Is Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle safe?
Statistics Canada puts Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle at 116.5 on its Crime Severity Index over 2023–2025; Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more sit at 67.2 in the middle. Violent incidents run at 12.3 and property crimes at 11.8 per 1,000 residents a year.
What is the most common crime in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle?
Police record other Criminal Code offences most, 8.7 per 1,000 residents a year, ahead of drug offences (7.8) and assault (6.2).
Is crime going up in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle?
No: the index fell 15%, from 101.1 in 2023 to 86.1 in 2025.
How much of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle’s crime do police solve?
Weighted by seriousness, police cleared 38% of crime (69% of violent crime, 30% of the rest). The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ clears 34%.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle 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).