Photo: Kayoty · CC BY-SA 3.0Buffalo Narrows sees more crime per resident than almost any other Canadian town
It grades D− for safety on crime the police covering Buffalo Narrows reported from 2023 to 2025. Year on year, 230.0 violent incidents and 399.2 incidents of property crime occur per 1,000 residents, compared with 12.0 and 31.2 in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Against usual levels of 86.4 and 62.8, violent and non-violent offences here reach 1,165.3 and 791.3.
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. Crime severity, crime rate and incident counts: the Buffalo Narrows detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Buffalo Narrows
Mischief: high for a town its size
Buffalo Narrows records 301.7 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 ↓
Heavier than Saskatchewan’s middle
Buffalo Narrows’s index of 892.7 compares with 118.6 for the typical town in Saskatchewan. Towns its size ↓
Police clear more here
Police cleared 46% of Buffalo Narrows’s crime, weighted by seriousness (67% of violent crime, 34% of the rest), against 34% across Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Questions ↓
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 Buffalo Narrows
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.
Buffalo Narrows’s crime by kind
Against the typical town its size, Buffalo Narrows runs highest on mischief (301.7 per 1,000 against 4.2), drug offences (21.7 per 1,000 against 0.7) and assault (144.6 per 1,000 against 6.7).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 0.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 5.7 | 2.1 | 82% |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 24.7 | 9 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 10.3 | 3.8 | 46% |
| Robbery | 6 | 2.2 | 83% |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 2 | 0.7 | — |
| Other violent violations | 4 | 1.5 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 65 | 23.8 | 38% |
| Possession of stolen property | 5.3 | 2 | 43% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 61 | 22.3 | 20% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 7 | 2.6 | 24% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 91.3 | 33.5 | 33% |
| Mischief | 824.3 | 301.7 | 23% |
| Weapons violations | 22.3 | 8.2 | 57% |
| Administration of justice violations | 346.3 | 126.9 | 74% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 53.7 | 19.6 | 65% |
| Drug violations | 59.3 | 21.7 | 12% |
| Impaired driving | 168.3 | 61.6 | 29% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 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 people or more.
The police area Buffalo Narrows is part of, 2,760 residents, recorded about 630 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 1,090 property crimes and 830 other violations a year (2023–2025 average). The grid is 1,000 residents, a coloured dot for each incident a year at these rates.
The index in Buffalo Narrows, each year
Crime Severity Index
Its heaviest year came first: 2023, at 953.1, against a low of 775.8 in 2025. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+, 2023 gave 70.6 and 2025 gave 62.9.
Every year as a table
| Year | Buffalo Narrows | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 775.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 949.3 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 953.1 | 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 Buffalo Narrows, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Crime in the places around Buffalo Narrows
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Narrows | 1,064 | 892.7 | 1,165.3 | D− |
| Île-à-la-Crosse (58 km) | 1,484 | 387.8 | 552.5 | D− |
| La Loche (91 km) | 3,124 | 1,107 | 1,524.7 | D− |
| Pinehouse (125 km) | 1,064 | 750 | 888.6 | D− |
Nearby, 2 of 3 places with their own figures have a lower index than Buffalo Narrows. Just 57.9 km away, Île-à-la-Crosse comes to 387.8, against 892.7.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. Distances here run 58–125 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Buffalo Narrows.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The clearance rate. Cleared means solved by police, charged or not; it says nothing about what courts decide.
- 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.”
- Few people behind the figures. The police behind these figures serve about 2,761 people, so a handful of incidents moves every rate. Statistics Canada’s note: “Data for police services or detachments with populations less than 5,000 should be used with caution.”
- A wider policing area. Detachment figures cover the detachment’s whole area: Buffalo Narrows together with the countryside and smaller places it polices.
- What 100 means. Statistics Canada set the national index at 100 for 2006; every figure here is read against that.
Questions about safety in Buffalo Narrows
Is Buffalo Narrows safe?
Its police recorded 230 violent incidents and 399.2 property crimes a year per 1,000 residents over 2023–2025, which gives Buffalo Narrows a Crime Severity Index of 892.7. In the middle of Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more the figure is 67.2.
What is the most common crime in Buffalo Narrows?
Most often it is mischief: 301.7 per 1,000 residents a year. Next come other Criminal Code offences at 198.3 and assault at 144.6.
Is crime going up in Buffalo Narrows?
No: the index fell 19%, from 953.1 in 2023 to 775.8 in 2025. With few people or missing years behind it, the change is a rough one.
How much of Buffalo Narrows’s crime do police solve?
Police cleared 46% of crime once each incident is weighted by seriousness: 67% of violent crime and 34% of the rest, against 34% for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
Whose figures are these?
A police service or detachment that covers Buffalo Narrows 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).