The latest numbers from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Center for Justice Statistics show the Crime Severity Index decreasing in Weyburn last year. The decrease comes after two years of increases.

Weyburn Police Chief Marlo Pritchard explained the index was down across the board.

“The violent crimes for Weyburn this year are down 17.3 percent, and that’s the crime severity, and non-violent is 5.7 percent,” Pritchard stated, pointing out overall, the crime severity index for the city was down 7.7 percent.

With the decrease in the city, there was an increase in the Crime Severity Index for the Weyburn RCMP. The numbers show the CSI for the Weyburn RCMP detachment was up to 90.3, an increase of 25.34 percent from 2017. The violent crime severity index jumped up by 112 percent, while the non-violent crime index was up by 5.6 percent.

The CSI numbers are part of the 2018 Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. It is intended to examine trends in the volume and severity of crime at a national, provincial and municipal level. It is calculated using sentencing data from courts across the country and is weighted by the severity of the sentences handed out by judges. 

Nationally, the CSI average was 75.1

In terms of incidents, the Weyburn Police Service responded to in 2018, those numbers were down as well. There were 971 actual incidents, a reduction of 3.1 percent. Of those 971 calls, 42 were classed as unfounded. In all, the 971 incidents resulted in 281 charges being laid by the Weyburn Police Service. 234 of those were adults, with 47 youth charged in Weyburn last year.