The latest measure of crime rates across Canada saw one of the steepest year-over-year decreases in Red Deer.

According to Statistics Canada's crime severity index, which assesses and tracks the seriousness of crime, Red Deer recorded a 20 per cent decrease from 2023 to 2024.

That's the second-biggest drop among 40 other census metropolitan areas analyzed by StatsCan — only Kamloops came out ahead, with a 21 per cent decrease.

The numbers, released last week, show the crime severity index is down …