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Crime, police, and police resource statistics

Last updated on May 22, 2024

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​B.C. crime trends and statistics

British Columbia crime statistics are available in five web publications. These web publications contain information on the type and incidence of reported crime in B.C.

Note: The data contained in these publications may vary slightly from previous releases. The most current release reflects the most accurate and up-to-date data.

Crime statistics

Crime trends

Regional district crime trends

Policing jurisdiction crime trends

Data collection overview 

Crime data sources

  • Statistics Canada. 2023. Table 35-10-0184-01 Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, police services in British Columbia. Statistics Canada database. Released July 27, 2023 (accessed July 27, 2023).
  • Statistics Canada. 2023. Table 35-10-0063-01 Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, police services in British Columbia. Statistics Canada database. Released July 27, 2023 (accessed July 27, 2023).

Population data source

  • BC Stats, Ministry of Citizens' Services, Province of British Columbia. Last updated July 2022.

Data qualifiers

  • Total Criminal Code of Canada counts exclude traffic offences.
  • Crime rates are calculated on the basis of 1,000 population; population estimates are provided by BC Stats.
  • Population estimates provided by BC Stats may vary from those provided by Statistics Canada.
  • Crime statistics publications are not comparable with publications released in other years for two reasons:
    • Population estimates provided by BC Stats are sometimes retroactively adjusted to reflect updated census boundaries according to current policing jurisdiction boundaries; and
    • During the production of each year’s crime statistics, data from the previous year are revised to reflect any updates or changes that have been reported to Statistics Canada from individual police services.
  • The policing jurisdictions utilized in crime statistics reports published by Policing and Security Branch reflect operational policing in B.C. and may vary from those provided by Statistics Canada.
  • For a more comprehensive version of our data qualifiers, see Overview of Crime Data Collection in British Columbia (PDF, 295 KB).

Police use-of-force data

This section includes a report on overall police use of force in BC. It also provides additional data tables and reports specific to use of:

  • police service dogs
  • intermediate weapons
  • firearms
  • conducted energy weapons

The Policing and Security Branch (PSB) uses the use-of-force information collected from police agencies to:

  • produce public reports
  • inform local training and policies
  • monitor compliance with provincial policing standards
  • identify priorities for further study, standards, or training

Overall use of force

The Overall Police Use of Force, 2020 (PDF, 224 KB) report presents a summary of 2020 data across a range of different force options, at the provincial level.

Police service dogs

The following tables present data collected annually pursuant to the British Columbia Provincial Policing Standards (BCPPS) on the use of Police Service Dogs:

Police intermediate weapons

The Police Intermediate Weapon report (PDF, 507 KB) presents a summary of police intermediate-weapon uses in B.C. between 2012 and 2020.

Police firearms

The Police Firearm report (PDF, 362 KB) presents a summary of police firearm-discharge incidents in B.C. between 2007 and 2020 and police firearm-display incidents in B.C. in 2020.

Conducted energy weapons

The Conducted Energy Weapon (CEWs) report (PDF, 229 KB) presents a 10-year summary and trend analysis of intermediate-weapon use among police agencies in B.C. between 2007 and 2016.

The following tables present data collected annually pursuant to the British Columbia Provincial Policing Standards on the use of Conducted Energy Weapons:

Justice System Open Data Initiative

Policing and Security Branch supports the Justice System Open Data Initiative by publishing datasets to DataBC. Crime and policing related datasets, which capture data from 2008 to 2018, were added to DataBC in 2020.

Open Data Sources Definitions and Data Qualifiers (PDF, 155 KB) describes and qualifies the data sources and definitions used in the datasets.

Police resource statistics

Police Resources in British Columbia, 2022 (PDF, 810 KB) contains information about policing costs, strengths and caseloads within the province. It also provides an overview of policing functions and responsibilities, a complete list of municipal, provincial and First Nations policing jurisdictions, and statistics about police resources.

Note: The data contained in this publication may vary slightly from previous releases. The most current release reflects the most accurate and up-to-date data.