North Bay police announced Monday that the crime severity index in the city rose by 7.04 per cent last year, in part driven by a spike in attempted murders. That includes a 7.84 per cent increase in violent crime and a 6.44 per cent jump in non-violent crime, with robberies spiking by 29 per cent. “The CSI measures both how much crime is reported to police and how serious that crime is,” police said in a news release Sept. 14. “Not all crimes have the same impact on the index. More serious crimes are given a higher weight based on national court sentencing data. This means that a small number of serious crimes can have a large impact on the CSI, especially in a smaller community.” In 2025, police said there were three attempted murders in the city and one homicide. Sexual assaults increased by five per cent, robberies increased by 29 per cent and weapons-related calls up by 16 per cent. Chief Daryl Longworth said in the release that the CSI doesn’t tell the full story about the state of safety in a city. “Serious offences can have a large impact on the index,” Longworth said. “At the same time, having a full staffing complement has increased our ability to conduct proactive policing and investigations.” More police, more investigations With its staffing complement restored, police in North Bay increased their ability to conduct proactive patrols, enforcement and investigations. “This can lead to more offences being identified, investigated and cleared,” the release said. For example, last year traffic enforcement increased by 97 per cent, fraud investigations by 20 per cent and shoplifting calls increased by 15 per cent. “We want people to report crime. That may mean we see more incidents in our statistics, but that is not necessarily a bad thing,” Longworth added. “It means we have a better understanding of what is happening in North Bay and where we need to focus our efforts.” While increasing in 2025, police said the CSI overall has decreased by approximately 23 per cent since 2021, for violent and non-violent crime. “Our focus is on preventing crime, supporting victims, disrupting criminal activity and keeping our community safe,” said Longworth. “We will continue to push forward and use local data to guide where our resources are needed most.”
