Among the 12 major metropolitan regions in Ontario, one area consistently ranks as having the lowest crime rates.
And they’ve done it once more.
Halton Region, situated between Toronto and Hamilton, recorded the lowest overall crime severity in 2024 when compared to other large policing areas in the province.
Halton includes the City of Burlington and the Towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills.
The information comes from Statistics Canada and was recently shared by Halton Regional Police. It evaluates what are known as “Ontario’s Big 12” jurisdictions, which consist of Halton, Durham Region, Greater Sudbury, Hamilton, London, Niagara Region, Ottawa, Peel Region, Toronto, Waterloo Region, Windsor, and York Region.
The data showed that Halton had the lowest violent crime severity index (CSI) among all Big 12 police services.
The CSI tracks how severe police-reported crimes are each year. It considers shifts in the number of specific crimes and their relative seriousness compared to others.
Additonally, Halton boasted the lowest overall crime rate along with the least violent and non-violent crime severity ratings.
This area has held these top rankings for 17 consecutive reporting years.
Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner expressed pride in this achievement but emphasized that there’s still work ahead.
“While our service is pleased that Halton region once again recorded the lowest Crime Severity Index, Violent Crime CSI, and Non-Violent Crime CSI overall among the ‘Big 12’ in 2024, we are acutely aware of the profound impacts that serious crimes such as home invasions, auto thefts and guns & gangs have on our community, our province and on those we serve,” said Tanner. “To address it and to ensure ongoing safety and well-being of citizens at home and beyond we will continue to deploy considerable resources to these and other priority issues.”
The statistics reveal that during the first six months of 2025 overall crime in Halton Region has dropped by 11.7 percent per 100,000 residents. Property crimes (like break-ins or auto thefts) have also seen a combined decrease of 15.9 percent year-over-year when adjusted for population growth.
A summary of other policing data just released for Halton’s first six months of 2025 compared to the same period last year includes:
A reduction of 32 percent in auto thefts with 254 fewer vehicles stolen (about 40 fewer each month); A decrease of 4 percent in thefts (129 fewer); 26 percent less break-ins (138 fewer); A drop of 12.5 percent in property crime incidents; 13 percent fewer reported fraud cases; A decline of 21 percent in mischief offenses.
Evidently while overall violent crime has risen by two percent in Halton it actually decreased by two percent when considering population growth.
Solve rates have also improved with a clearance rate increasing from 34.5 percent to 37.8 percent during this year’s first half-a change Tanner credits to increased staffing levels along with better collaboration with stakeholders and greater community engagement.
“Halton’s strong safety record reflects our residents’, police’s governments’ and community partners’ collective efforts. But we cannot become complacent as there is still too much crime,” stated Jeff Knoll Chairperson for the Halton Police Board. “Together we must keep lowering crime rates while holding offenders accountable and supporting victims. The Board is committed to ensuring our Service has adequate resources so we can continue keeping Halton a safe place for living working or raising families.”
You can find more data about policing and criminal activity across Ontario here.
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The CSI tracks how severe police-reported crimes are each year. It considers shifts in the number of specific crimes and their relative seriousness compared to others.
Additonally, Halton boasted the lowest overall crime rate along with the least violent and non-violent crime severity ratings.
This area has held these top rankings for 17 consecutive reporting years.
Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner expressed pride in this achievement but emphasized that there’s still work ahead.
“While our service is pleased that Halton region once again recorded the lowest Crime Severity Index, Violent Crime CSI, and Non-Violent Crime CSI overall among the ‘Big 12’ in 2024, we are acutely aware of the profound impacts that serious crimes such as home invasions, auto thefts and guns & gangs have on our community, our province and on those we serve,” said Tanner. “To address it and to ensure ongoing safety and well-being of citizens at home and beyond we will continue to deploy considerable resources to these and other priority issues.”
The statistics reveal that during the first six months of 2025 overall crime in Halton Region has dropped by 11.7 percent per 100,000 residents. Property crimes (like break-ins or auto thefts) have also seen a combined decrease of 15.9 percent year-over-year when adjusted for population growth.
A summary of other policing data just released for Halton’s first six months of 2025 compared to the same period last year includes:
A reduction of 32 percent in auto thefts with 254 fewer vehicles stolen (about 40 fewer each month); A decrease of 4 percent in thefts (129 fewer); 26 percent less break-ins (138 fewer); A drop of 12.5 percent in property crime incidents; 13 percent fewer reported fraud cases; A decline of 21 percent in mischief offenses.
Evidently while overall violent crime has risen by two percent in Halton it actually decreased by two percent when considering population growth.
Solve rates have also improved with a clearance rate increasing from 34.5 percent to 37.8 percent during this year’s first half-a change Tanner credits to increased staffing levels along with better collaboration with stakeholders and greater community engagement.
“Halton’s strong safety record reflects our residents’, police’s governments’ and community partners’ collective efforts. But we cannot become complacent as there is still too much crime,” stated Jeff Knoll Chairperson for the Halton Police Board. “Together we must keep lowering crime rates while holding offenders accountable and supporting victims. The Board is committed to ensuring our Service has adequate resources so we can continue keeping Halton a safe place for living working or raising families.”
You can find more data about policing and criminal activity across Ontario here.
Last 30 Days: 66,089 Votes
All Time: 1 ,139 ,989 Votes
165 VOTES
