Crime increased across the city last year —  in particular, shoplifting, mischief and theft from automobiles — according to Edmonton Police Service (EPS) crime data from 2025.

EPS data released Wednesday shows a 3.2-per cent increase in overall crime in 2025, which is the number of police-reported crimes per 100,000 people.

At the same time, the  crime severity index (CSI), which measures the severity of the crime based on the seriousness and is weighted by Statistics Canada, dropped by 6.5 per cent.

“This is the lowest we’ve seen since 2021, but it is on par with what’s happening both provincially and nationally,” said Insp. Bryce Gibbon with the EPS analytics branch.

The severity of non-violent crime went down 11 per cent from 2024 to 2025, EPS said.

However, of the violent crimes reported — homicides, assaults and robberies — the severity increased by 3.2 per cent.

“We’ve seen an increase in robberies, we’ve seen increase in assaults against peace officers, as well as uttering threats and child-luring files,” Gibbon said.

At the same time, the overall amount of violent crimes went down 2.5 per cent.

“We’ve seen decreases in Level 2 assaults,” Gibbon said, explaining that category includes assaults involving a weapon or causing bodily harm.

Extortions also dropped in 2025.

“Those extortion files were at a peak the year prior, and the introduction of Project Gaslight helped bring those extortion numbers down. Now again, recognizing this is a per-capita number — this is also going to be impacted by the increase in population in Edmonton during that last calendar year,” Gibbon said.

Police said Edmonton’s 3.2-per cent increase in overall crime goes against national and provincial trends, and the uptick was driven by property crime data.

Property crimes increased by 10.1 per cent last year, with specific incidents seeing a large spike:

• Shoplifting under $5,000 — increased by 30 per cent
• Mischief —increased by 23 per cent
• Theft under $5,000 from a motor vehicle — increased by 17 per cent

Edmonton has the highest shoplifting rate per capita rate amongst larger Canadian municipalities and Gibbon said it’s believed the actual amount of that kind of theft in Edmonton is higher, as the data only reflects those who got caught or when theft was noticed.

While some property crimes increased, police said theft of motor vehicle dropped 12.3 per cent.

Calls for police to respond to incidents of disorder also increased for the fourth year in a row, with 99,089 dispatches — a 3.4-per cent increase from 2024.

Broken down, that’s an average of 270 disorder calls a day.

“This does make up a significant portion of what our front-line members are actually responding to, ” Gibbon said, explaining the number represents both the calls for service by the citizens, as well as those generated by front-line members.

“That includes trouble with person, mischief, intoxicated persons, trespassing, graffiti and some bylaw complaints.”

Police said in early 2026, they launched a program called Safer Edmonton, which strategically deployed officers to areas where data showed an increased police presence was needed.

Police operations chief Devin Laforce said early data shows the program is working and community safety is top of mind for EPS.

He says the program allows police to look at the data of where and when crime is being committed, and deploy officers to those locations ahead of time.

“They’re not responding to calls for service, it’s officer-generated calls. Which means they’re on view, or they’re disrupting things, so the members are in the right locations, based on that information,” Laforce said.

“We’re hoping that it all feeds back into actual crime reduction, and actual increase in feelings and perception of safety.”

EPS said a months-long early summer deployment out of the northwest detachment resulted in a 18.7-per cent decrease in violent crime and a 23.7-per cent decrease in disorder events.

Police noted while data tells one story, people’s personal experiences and public perception is another thing entirely.

“While there are positive trends in some areas, residents, businesses, and communities continue to experience very real challenges in others. That’s why public safety can’t be reduced to a simple statement about crime being up or down,” Laforce said.

Laforce says when it comes to the upcoming city budget, EPS doesn’t plan to ask for more funding relating to the Safer Edmonton project, but will continue to assess where their funding is best used to make the city safer.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.