When you’re planning to purchase a home in Calgary one question you may ask is: Do I need to be worried about crime in the neighborhood? Certainly, you want to find a family-friendly community where you and your loved ones will feel protected.
How Calgary compares
The first thing to know is that your city is quite safe when compared with other cities in Alberta. Having said that, Statistics Canada has assigned Calgary a crime severity score of 88.1 which is higher than the national average of 75. Also, their recently released data confirms that violent crime rates have risen over the last five years.
Types of crimes
To keep this in perspective it’s helpful to remember that violent crimes make up a very small percentage of all criminal activity. The good news is that the number of non-violent crimes in the city hasn’t changed much in the past four years. These include car theft, break-and-enter, fraud, shoplifting, vandalism and other property offenses. Also, the number of drug crimes have actually decreased compared to previous years.
Criminal activity trends
You can study the Calgary Community Crime Map to see the rates of crime as well as the specific types of offenses by neighborhood. Furthermore, there’s a search function that allows you to filter by year, month, community, and type of crime. In this way, you can also get a sense of whether crime rates are changing in the neighborhood that you’re interested in from year to year, or compared to the same time period the previous year.
What you can do
Practice the usual safety precautions to deter crime such as locking your doors and windows when you leave the house and being careful not to leave merchandise visible in your car overnight. Take note of where the closest police detachment is and notice how frequently police patrol the neighborhood - whether in vehicles, bicycles or on foot
You can also consider joining the local Neighbourhood Watch or starting one if there isn’t one already. Not only is this a great way to stay informed about crime rates in the area and how to protect your property, but it’s also a terrific opportunity to work together with your neighbors to make your community safer.
You can also consider joining the local Neighbourhood Watch or starting one if there isn’t one already. Not only is this a great way to stay informed about crime rates in the area and how to protect your property, but it’s also a terrific opportunity to work together with your neighbors to make your community safer.
