RURAL CRIME RATE FALLING
New police units see success
Crime in rural Alberta communities dropped more than 10 per cent, with credit going to the vigilance of rural residents and an RCMP crime-reduction initiative.
Many Albertans called on the province for action following a string of high-profile rural cases, including when Okotoks rancher Edouard (Eddie) Maurice was charged for firing a warning shot near trespassers earlier this year.
All charges against Maurice were dropped in June, but the incident helped spark a debate around policing in rural areas.
In March, the province announced more than $10-million in funding to establish four district teams tasked with tackling crime in rural areas.
Now, police have released details on the reduction teams’ progress, and RCMP Supt. Peter Tewfik says the units have helped lay more than 1,500 charges.
Tewfik said property crime in all RCMP jurisdictions decreased by nine per cent between January and July, while crimes in rural detachments decreased by 11 per cent.
Mounties say fraud, arson and mischief have also decreased since January for a drop of 25 per cent.
Tewfik said those reductions add up to 638 fewer stolen cars, 366 fewer break-and-enters, and 3,358 fewer thefts in Alberta.
Police say the new crime-reduction units made 533 arrests and laid 1,628 charges in a little over six months, with every arrest netting between three to five charges each.
Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said those numbers are “targeting specific, prolific offenders.”
“In my view, this sort of proactive policing is exactly what we should be doing; it’s certainly what our experts at the RCMP are telling us,” Ganley said. “And I think that it is having a real, meaningful impact.”
In 2017, Alberta saw rural crime increase 38 per cent higher than urban crime.
Nationwide numbers released by Statistics Canada showed a 30 per cent overall increase in rural crime last year for a total of 6,581 incidents in rural areas per 100,000 people, compared with 5,082 in urban centres.
Dean Hart with the Southern Alberta Rural Crime Watch Association said the crime-reduction units have had a big effect on rural crime, especially when coupled with tips from the public.
“The stories and the anecdotes are endless about how powerful getting involved and reporting suspicious activity is,” Hart said. “It’s a very simple principle, but an extremely powerful tool.”
“Anything that we do to help reduce crime . . . is obviously making a big difference.”