New stats reveal how the ‘Big 12’ areas across Ontario rank in crime rates, and Waterloo Region is near the bottom in almost every category.
The numbers come from Statistics Canada and cover crime rates for 2024 province-wide. They include details on crime severity, clearance rates, firearm offenses, and more.
This data was shared at a recent meeting of the Waterloo Regional Police Service board on Wednesday.
Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ are London, Toronto, Windsor, Greater Sudbury, Peel Region, Hamilton, Ottawa, Durham Region, Niagara Region, York Region, Halton Region, plus Waterloo Region.
For the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS), the biggest highlights show where it ranks in overall crime severity and violent crime clearance rates.
Regarding crime severity-which counts both violent crimes and property crimes-Waterloo sits eleventh out of twelve. That said, there was a 4.0 per cent drop compared to 2023 figures. This kind of decline appears across many other categories too.
Reported Crime Severity Index (CSI), comparing Waterloo Region with Ontario’s ‘Big 12’ (WRPS)
The region fares even worse on violent clearance rates; it ranks twelfth among the ‘Big 12.’ But for non-violent clearance rates? It’s sitting at sixth place.
Overall reported crimes dropped by 1.75 per cent for violent offenses and by 5.7 per cent for non-violent ones.
A big factor here is that Waterloo had fewer officers per capita than any other region in 2023-ranking last out of the twelve with officers per 100,000 people. However, they didn’t provide updated numbers for that stat in 2024.
There are some bright spots though – one big win is WRPS’s handling of firearm violations which dropped by a whopping 27.4 per cent-the biggest decrease among those regions in Ontario.
Break-and-enter cases also went down sharply by 17.8 per cent compared to last year. That’s actually the lowest rate seen there in over twenty years.
The WRPS says their ongoing strategy combining enforcement with proactive prevention should keep pushing those numbers down even more as we head into 2025.
