The Quinte region fared well on the 2018 Maclean’s Magazine Canada’s Most Dangerous List.
The publication breaks down communities according to the Crime Severity Index, which is a Statistics Canada measure of all police-reported crime collected through the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. Maclean’s takes into consideration both the volume and the seriousness of the crime. The index uses 2006 as its benchmark. There are 85 communities in Ontario and 229 across Canada that are part of the survey. North Battleford, Saskatchewan is the Most Dangerous City in Canada, according to the survey.
So how did we do in the Quinte region? Overall, pretty well. The lower the number, the most dangerous you are. 1 is bad, 229 is good.
BELLEVILLE
Since being named Ontario’s Most Dangerous City in 2010, Belleville has fallen, and that is a good thing. The Friendly City is down to 16th out of 85 in Ontario and 88th of 229 nationwide. In 2010, Belleville was in the Top 15 coast to coast. The city did not fare well in two drug categories however, being in the top 10 in both cannabis (9th) and cocaine (8th) trafficking in Ontario. The city was 219/229 (nationally) for Impaired Driving Charges and 186/229 for Homicides. Belleville stayed in the top 20 in Ontario for Violent Crime (18th), Sexual Assault (16th), Assault (16th), Firearms (19th), Robbery (15th), B&E (14th), Fraud (14th) and Youth Crime (16th).
QUINTE WEST
The municipality is one of the safest in Canada. It sits 185/229 overall. Quinte West does well in firearm charges (160th), B&E’s (217th), and other drug charges (not cannabis or cocaine) (181st). It did finish 11th provincially in homicide charges and impaired driving charges, which were its worst scores.
PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY
The County finished around the middle of the pack in Ontario, but strong nationwide. Overall, Prince Edward County was 48th in the province, 172nd overall. It was low in violent crime (165th), firearms (169th), robberies (198th), cocaine trafficking (219th) and impaired charges (161st).
BRIGHTON
Brighton is the safest community in the Quinte region, Ontario and coast to coast. Out of 229 communities, Brighton was 207th. It fared very well in violent crime (210th), sexual assault (218th), and cocaine trafficking (210th). It did have the second highest cannabis trafficking charges in Ontario however (20th nationwide).
TRENT HILLS
Right behind Brighton, was Northumberland County partner, Trent Hills. The community was the 25th safest community in the survey, finishing 204th. It did not finish in the top 100 in any category. For violent crime, it was 213th, and sexual assault 221st.
NAPANEE
The Town of Greater Napanee was 147th out of the 229 communities included. Low crime stats in violent crime (206th), robbery (190th), and firearms (184th). It was in the top 10 percent for cannabis trafficking charges however, 24th in Canada and 3rd in Ontario. It was also 7th in Ontario (out of 85) for impaired charges.
COBOURG
Cobourg was 161st in Ontario. It stayed steady in most categories, with good showings in break and enters (220th), impaired driving (200th) and cannabis trafficking (202nd).
PORT HOPE: Out of 229 cities studied, Port Hope came first in fraud. It had the most fraud charges nationally.
