Rural crime issues remain concern for residents
Rural crime remains an issue two years after the provincial government took action to beef up presence of rural police.
Crime was a focus of the recent Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) midterm convention.
RCMP say rural crime has decreased by three per cent. While the RCMP want more police officers in the field, spokesmen admitted problems in recruiting for RCMP. Rural policing faces a challenge due to staffing. The RCMP is no longer “the police agency of choice (for potential recruits) anymore,” Cpl. Mel Zurevinsky told SARM delegates.
“We are finding it harder to recruit people to go to different areas,” said Zurevinsky.
The frequent postings of RCMP officers, often to remote places across Canada, are less desirable than the stability of location offered by municipal police forces. The province has indicated legislation will be introduced this session allowing groups of RMs, villages and towns to establish regional police services. Currently RMs pay very little to have RCMP policing services. The province pays the bulk of the bill. Provincial action on rural crime involved development of a protection and response team with 258 members, including arming the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol and conservation officers.
Rural crime in Alberta and Saskatchewan grew after the 2014 oil price and oil patch collapse.
The matter came to a head two years ago after a young indigenous man was killed by a Rosetown area farmer, defending his family from a carload of people driving onto the farm yard. A jury acquitted the farmer. Since then, RCMP have conducted dozens of rural town hall meetings to encourage reporting of crime, crime watch organizations and to explain the potential consequences of using guns to ward off intruders. Crime watch groups have grown to 120 from a handful. Last year, 93 per cent of SARM municipalities voted to have expanded self-defence rights. Senior government dismissed the idea.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net