It's been a long time running: New understandings of crime severity and specialization in Canada's longest running crime capital, North Battleford

Abstract

Until last year, North Battleford, Saskatchewan has held the title for the “crime capital of Canada” with the highest crime severity index in the country. While the crime severity index is considered a better measure of crime seriousness compared to crime rates, it is still largely influenced by population size. As a result, the small municipality of North Battleford, with a population of approximately 14,000 people, may be inappropriately labelled as the crime capital. The current study compares the crime severity index and crime rates against the location quotient: a geographical measure. The location quotient calculates an area's crime specialization, compared to surrounding areas. In the period 2006 to 2018, findings indicate that North Battleford did not specialize in violent crime compared to other municipal police jurisdictions in Saskatchewan. Implications for policy and practice, as well as local narratives and stigmatization, are discussed.