Integrated Crime Reduction Unit gets results in first two weeks
In its first two weeks, the Alberta RCMP’s new Integrated Crime Reduction Unit (ICRU) is already bringing prolific offenders to justice.
Mitchell Sydlowski, 26, was arrested in Devon by the ICRU team last Monday on warrants out of Devon and Stony Plain for vehicle thefts and dangerous driving. After trying to flee, Sydlowski is now facing a dozen additional charges, including possession of weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Nelson Salteaux, wanted in connection to two armed robberies, was arrested by the unit in St. Albert last Wednesday and remains in custody.
Cpl. Peter MacMillan, a noncommissioned officer in charge of the new ICRU team and a 14-year member of the RCMP, said the unit’s work has just begun. Postmedia sat down with MacMillan Wednesday to talk about the new initiative.
Q The ICRU is part of a larger RCMP crime reduction strategy. What role does your team play in reducing crime in Alberta?
“We are going to be focusing on inter-jurisdictional, multidetachment and multi-city and community offenders who have shown a disregard for convictions or orders enforced by the court who have a history of breaching conditions, people who are not manageable through other things like diversion and treatment programs. Really, the small percentage of people who are creating the most havoc and victimizing the highest percentage of the population.”
Q Why is it important to target these types of offenders?
“We’re dealing with people where their goal in life is to commit crime for their own enterprise, to survive and commit further crimes using other people’s commodities, their guns, their vehicles, their houses. Those are the people we are going to be targeting because an escalation in the way they do business leads to really serious events. Get them before they hurt people.”
Q How do you feel about the work of the ICRU thus far?
A “We’ve taken three extremely well-known offenders in multiple jurisdictions off the streets, all three of them are currently in custody. These guys had warrants in various communities, one person in general had 100 ongoing police investigations in the last five months between several RCMP detachments and Edmonton police. Putting some closure on that and interfering with his short-term ability to victimize people has felt really good.”
Q Crime doesn’t respect boundaries. How does having this integrated team help interrupt criminals active in multiple communities?
A “In one community they may be well known as an offender and they can go 20 minutes down the road and nobody knows who they are. We are going to put in place different communication and intelligence strategies where we are able to ... ensure that these people are known as offenders in point A and when they move to point B and point C. By the time they get to point C, they are going to be dealing with us, which is the end of the road for them.”
Q You are clearly passionate about your work. Why is the success of this unit so important to you?
“I want to bring back people feeling safe in their communities. I don’t want people to have to be scared when they leave their house. I don’t want people to have to be scared to leave their vehicle in their driveway.