Troubling crime numbers were hot topics at a Wednesday news conference with the Edmonton Police Service.<\/p>\n
Edmonton’s violent crime index is up 3.2 per cent over last year, in contrast with a national downward trend.<\/p>\n
Edmonton’s numbers are driven by an increase in robberies, assaults against peace officers, uttering threats, and child luring, according to the latest Statistics Canada numbers from the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety.<\/p>\n
The overall crime rate had a slight increase as well.<\/p>\n
Non-violent crime severity decreased by 11 per cent between 2024 to 2025, meshing with national and provincial trends, but on crime rates per 100,000 people, Edmonton’s total crime rate has increased by 3.2 per cent in 2025 from 2024.<\/p>\n
“This again goes against that national trend, but we do know what those driving factors are, and it is within property crimes. So we’ve seen a 30 per cent increase in the actual shoplifting reports, a 23 per cent increase in mischiefs and a 17 per cent increase in theft from autos under $5,000,” said Bryce Gibbon, inspector in charge of the police service’s intelligence and analytics branch.<\/p>\n
“We do recognize we have the highest per capita rate for larger municipalities.”<\/p>\n
The city’s total crime severity decrease of 6.5 per cent between 2024 and 2025 is “the lowest we’ve seen since 2021, but it is on par with what’s happening both provincially and nationally.”<\/p>\n
In 2024 the service launched initiatives to facilitate reporting incidents online, with dedicated virtual investigation teams. That has impacted overall numbers, Gibbon said.<\/p>\n
The EPS has seen decreases in “Level 2” assaults, those involving a weapon or causing bodily harm. Per capita, extortions are also down, having peaked the year before alongside the introduction of Project Gaslight.<\/p>\n
Citywide disorder calls are up some three per cent. They include mischief, intoxicated persons, trespassing graffiti, and some bylaw complaints.<\/p>\n
“We’ve been hearing from our communities that police presence regarding social disorder is important, which is again why we’re trying to take that balanced approach of enforcement and support services,” Gibbon said.<\/p>\n
A 20 per cent increase in calls generated by frontline Edmonton Police Service officers is an anomaly in a good way, Gibbon said.<\/p>\n
“This is part of that push to have them in the streets, on that front line, and generating these calls for service to actually serve the communities,” he said.<\/p>\n
“This shows the push to have our frontline members out there visible in the communities is actively occurring.”<\/p>\n
Numbers higher than the rest of Canada<\/p>\n
Standing in for vacationing Chief Warren Driechel, operations chief Devin Laforce acknowledged all the city’s numbers are higher than the rest of Canada.<\/p>\n
“We’ve studied this for a number of years, and so there’s definitely nuances to Edmonton and Edmonton’s crime environment. There’s lots of factors,” Laforce said, citing things like being a gateway city to the North, a higher immigration rate, younger demographics, more men, more prisons in Edmonton versus other major cities \u2014 all playing a role, but no one factor is dominant,” he said, adding he couldn’t point to a specific reason Edmonton’s homicide rate this year being twice that of Calgary.<\/p>\n
“Homicides are obviously terribly egregious and impactful to a community, but we’re talking about numbers around 30, and so it’s somewhat predictable for us. It’s a reasonable number for everyone,” Laforce said.<\/p>\n
He said it reinforces the direction EPS crime management efforts to use data to help focus resources where they can have the greatest impact, while working closely with partners to address the underlying issues that contribute to crime and disorder.<\/p>\n
Laforce cited a month-long deployment in northwest Edmonton resulting in an 18.7 per cent reduction in violent crime and a 23.7 percent reduction in disorder events, year-to-date.<\/p>\n
‘Optimistic that we have the right approach’<\/p>\n
Citywide, the news is good year-to-date, he said.<\/p>\n
“As of June, Edmonton’s crime rate and violent crime have both decreased. Specifically, violent crime has decreased by six per cent and member-generated calls for service or officer proactive time are up 36 per cent,” he said.<\/p>\n
Diving more into details, Laforce said EPS is seeing increased officer-generated, member-generated calls for service, suggesting EPS is actually at the right locations in the right time.<\/p>\n
“I’m comparing it with some of our 2026 data right now. I find this all very encouraging, so I’m optimistic that we have the right approach. We’re deploying resources in the right way. I’m positive that we’re making a difference, but appreciating that it’s difficult to tease out when looking at (statistics),” Laforce said.<\/p>\n
jcarmichael@postmedia.com<\/p>\n
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