Lethbridge Crime Severity Index ranks 6th highest in the country: Statistics Canada

Not long ago, the Lethbridge, Alta., census metropolitan area sat atop the Crime Severity Index (CSI) in Canada.

In 2024, a drop of nearly 20 per cent brought the southern Alberta community down from the higher-ranked cities.

Now, Statistics Canada has released the 2025 numbers and Lethbridge holds a score of 107.7, making it the sixth-highest ranked metro area in Canada of the communities listed by the government organization.

The 2025 score is an increase of just under two per cent.

“I think (Lethbridge) is safe but what makes it feel unsafe is people walking around with (drug paraphernalia), you know? Smoking fentanyl,” said Lethbridge resident Brett Weaselhead.

For years, the downtown core of the city has often been viewed as a dangerous area, and some still feel that way.

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“I just wish downtown wasn’t so frightening sometimes,” said Andrew Fleming, a resident of the city since the 1980s.

However, Lethbridge police argue the high CSI score isn’t a perfect science.

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“Stats are very clear. Crime is down,” said Shahn Mehdizadeh, Lethbridge’s chief of police. “Some of the violent crime that is increasing our CSI is up.”

LPS pointed to a few examples of the few crimes that caused an increase in the score.

One such example is the alleged October 2025 hit-and-run incident at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena that resulted in five attempted murder charges.

Lethbridge police say the overall crime rate in the city decreased by 13 per cent and the clearance rate increased by almost four per cent, meaning more crimes were solved in 2025.

“We’ve got a trend that’s very positive over the last six years that speaks to that,” said Mehdizadeh.

However, the fact remains that Lethbridge ranks sixth highest across the nation — and that is frustrating to those who have worked tirelessly to stop crime and invite business into the city.

“That reputation sticks around and we are still suffering from the hangover of all the negative social activity that was in the downtown,” said Sarah Amies, executive director of the Downtown BRZ.

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Police say retail crimes had increased in 2025 as well, but Amies says the downtown wasn’t heavily affected and the core of the city is safer than it has been for years.

Over the past couple years, LPS has increased its presence downtown and that alone may have driven up the CSI, according to mayor Blaine Hyggen.

“The more the police are doing their work and the more arrests that come, that goes against our CSI. As sad as it is, if we had police out there doing absolutely nothing, guess what our CSI would be? It’d be way, way down,” said Hyggen.

Amies says there is something in that, too.

“(LPS) increased the contingent from one constable to seven, so it absolutely makes sense that conditions are improving in the downtown because the police presence is there.”

Officers say an increase in human trafficking-related charges, from zero to four from 2024 to 2025, also caused the increase in CSI.

While the serious crimes are a concern, Mehdizadeh says the numbers are generally getting better all the time.

“I am optimistic, very optimistic that our city is getting safer and safer every year.”