It’s a list no city wants to find itself on unless you’re at the bottom of it.
Maclean’s Magazine has released its annual Canada’s Most Dangerous Places list and Kingston lands in the middle of that list. Out of 229 Canadian cities, Kingston ranks 118.
The rankings are based on the Crime Severity Index. It’s a measure of all police-reported crime put together by Statistics Canada. The numbers are from 2016 and consider both the volume and seriousness of crimes in cities with populations of at least 10,000 people.
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“When you look at our crime mix, definitely we have less of the severe violent crimes which is great news at the same time we have some other crimes that are perhaps not as violent but they’re still crimes,” explained Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson, who pointed out that the stats have some value.
While the city didn’t see much violent crime in 2016, there was a spike in the number of break-ins, which could be attributed to addiction and mental health issues as they tend to play a major role in those types of crimes said Paterson.
“Sometimes that’s what happens with police. They end up dealing with a situation when its gotten to a point of severity. And so, how do we address those issues before it gets to that point?”
Kingston also sits below the national average in Canada’s Crime Severity Index.
According to Maclean’s Canada’s top three most dangerous places are to the west of Ontario. North Battleford, Sask. ranks No. 1, followed by Thompson, Man., and Prince Albert, Sask.
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