Photo: Regriemer · CC BY-SA 3.0Per resident, Mervin No. 499 records more crime than 94% of Canadian towns
Police clear 39% of crime, weighted by seriousness; the figure for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ is 34%. Still, its police logs show 31.8 violent incidents and 80.4 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents a year, while in the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ the numbers are 12.0 and 31.2. Scored on crime the police covering Mervin No. 499 reported across 2023 to 2025, the town lands on D for safety. Split in two, the index gives 233.3 for violence and 185.1 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. The crime severity, crime rate and incident counts numbers here cover the Turtleford detachment area.
What stands out about safety in Mervin No. 499
More people here than live here
Only year-round residents divide the crime in Mervin No. 499, yet 52% of its homes are seasonal or empty: the rates run higher than the place feels to the people who live there. How to read it ↓
Mischief: high for a town its size
Mervin No. 499 records 33 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 in 2023
From 150.1 in 2023 to 245.8 in 2025: that is Mervin No. 499’s index, against 70.6 and 62.9 for the typical Canadian town of 2,500+. Year by year ↓
Heavier than Saskatchewan’s middle
Within Saskatchewan, the median town comes to 118.6 on the index, against 197.7 in Mervin No. 499. 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.
Inside Mervin No. 499’s D for safety
How sure: Less sure than most: the grade leans on the closest detachment, 17 km from Mervin No. 499, since none reports under the town’s name.
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.
Mervin No. 499’s index rose 64% from 2023 to 2025
Crime Severity Index
It finished on its highest reading, 245.8 in 2025, having been lowest in 2023 at 150.1. The typical Canadian town of 2,500+ went from 70.6 in 2023 to 62.9 in 2025.
Every year as a table
| Year | Mervin No. 499 | Typical town of 2,500+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 245.8 | 62.9 |
| 2024 | 197.1 | 68.5 |
| 2023 | 150.1 | 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 Mervin No. 499, each year, against the typical Canadian town of 2,500+.
What police record in Mervin No. 499, by type
Against the typical town its size, Mervin No. 499 runs highest on mischief (33 per 1,000 against 4.2), motor vehicle theft (11 per 1,000 against 2.4) and break and enter (9.4 per 1,000 against 2.5).
Every Statistics Canada violation line
| Violation | Incidents a year | Per 1,000 | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homicide | 1.3 | 0.2 | — |
| Sexual violations against children | 3.3 | 0.4 | — |
| Assaults against a peace officer | 6.3 | 0.8 | 100% |
| Firearms: use, discharge, pointing | 7 | 0.8 | 76% |
| Robbery | 2 | 0.2 | — |
| Forcible confinement or kidnapping | 1.7 | 0.2 | — |
| Other violent violations | 3.7 | 0.4 | — |
| Breaking and entering | 78.7 | 9.4 | 16% |
| Possession of stolen property | 31.7 | 3.8 | 22% |
| Theft of a motor vehicle | 92 | 11 | 16% |
| Theft over $5,000 | 28 | 3.3 | 11% |
| Theft under $5,000 | 104 | 12.4 | 16% |
| Mischief | 276.7 | 33 | 31% |
| Weapons violations | 7 | 0.8 | 61% |
| Administration of justice violations | 251 | 29.9 | 81% |
| Other Criminal Code violations | 24.7 | 2.9 | 38% |
| Drug violations | 13.3 | 1.6 | 20% |
| Impaired driving | 36.3 | 4.3 | 45% |
| Failing to stop or remain | 0.7 | 0.08 | — |
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.
Around 270 violent incidents a year at the detachment nearest Mervin No. 499 (8,500 residents), 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 670 property crimes and 460 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 Mervin No. 499
| Town | People | Severity index | Violent index | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mervin No. 499 | 1,920 | 197.7 | 233.3 | D |
| Frenchman Butte No. 501 (39 km) | 1,382 | 197.7 | 233.3 | D |
| Meota No. 468 (59 km) | 1,217 | 349.1 | 479.8 | D− |
| Maidstone (62 km) | 1,222 | 125.2 | 105.4 | D |
| Meadow Lake No. 588 (66 km) | 2,712 | 243 | 329.2 | D |
| Meadow Lake (68 km) | 5,667 | 335.8 | 395.4 | D− |
Of 4 places nearby with their own figures, 1 come in under Mervin No. 499. Maidstone, 62.1 km away, is the nearest lower one, at 125.2 to 197.7. A neighbour policed by the same service carries the same figure, so it isn’t set against it.
Each place’s police figures, 2023–2025 means. The nearest places to Mervin No. 499 with figures are 39–68 km away.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Reading the number. 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.
- Solved cases. 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.
- How serious, not how safe. 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.”
Questions about safety in Mervin No. 499
Is Mervin No. 499 safe?
Mervin No. 499 measures 197.7 on the Crime Severity Index for 2023–2025, next to 67.2 for Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more. Per 1,000 residents a year, its police record 31.8 violent incidents and 80.4 property crimes.
What is the most common crime in Mervin No. 499?
The three biggest groups are other Criminal Code offences at 43, mischief at 33 and assault at 19.2, each per 1,000 residents a year.
Is crime going up in Mervin No. 499?
Up 64%: 150.1 in 2023, 245.8 in 2025.
How much of Mervin No. 499’s crime do police solve?
The weighted clearance rate is 39%: 59% for violent crime and 28% for non-violent. For the typical Canadian town of 2,500+ it is 34%.
Whose figures are these?
Those of the police serving Mervin No. 499 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).