Edmonton now perceived as safer than Calgary even though crime data says the opposite

Canadians now see Edmonton as safer than Calgary, according to an annual survey of crime perceptions, even though actual crime statistics show the opposite.

The shift in attitudes comes despite growing crime in Edmonton, while Calgary's crime rate and crime severity have been on the decline, according to the polling firm Mainstreet Research.

"Edmonton had 47 homicides in 2016, typically the crime that receives the most media attention, yet Canadians' net perception of safety in Edmonton has increased," said Mainstreet president Quito Maggi.

In the same survey last year, Edmonton was seen as the 11th safest city out of 15 included in the survey. This year, it jumped to sixth place.

The improvement in perceived safety came as the city's actual crime rate grew by 5.2 per cent and the crime severity index increased by two per cent.

In Calgary, meanwhile, the crime rate dropped by 1.7 per cent last year; the crime severity index — a measure of the relative seriousness of criminal offences — fell by 5.6 per cent.

But in Canadians' eyes, Calgary still ranked as the 10th safest city out of the 15 included in the survey, the same rank as the year before.

"Calgary is in the middle of the pack when you look at crime rates, it's the 7th safest city of the 15 we included in the survey," Maggi said.

"It has the third best violent crime rate only behind Toronto and Ottawa, and recorded 33 homicides in the last year."

Maggi said it's possible non-crime news coming out of Calgary has tinged Canadians' perception of the city.

"The dominant story from Alberta over the last few years has been the downturn in the economy and the problems facing Alberta's oil sector," he said.

"The negative coverage of the economic climate may have also done some damage to Calgary's standing, though it is difficult to pin down what specifically is driving opinion in this case."

In this year's survey, 57 per cent of Canadians said they believe Edmonton is safe, compared to 33 per cent who said the city is unsafe.

Calgary, by contrast, was described as safe by 54 per cent of survey respondents while 38 per cent said it's unsafe.

People in British Columbia were most likely to be wary of Alberta cities, with 48 per cent of B.C. respondents describing Calgary as unsafe and 43 per cent seeing Edmonton as unsafe.

People in Ontario had the most favourable view, with 62 per cent saying Calgary is safe and 65 per cent describing Edmonton as safe.

The survey involved 2,050 Canadian adults who were interviewed via landline and cellphones Aug. 14-18.

The margin of error for a comparable random survey would yield results within a margin of error of plus or minus 2.16 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, for the nationwide results.

Results at provincial level would carry a higher margin of error due to there being a smaller sampler size.

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