Saskatchewan’s rural communities hit by big city crime

When Kara Boettcher and her boyfriend came home from a trip to a wedding, the last thing she expected to find was her front door kicked in.

After entering her home, Boettcher discovered that her television, jewelry and several personal items were gone.

“We never did have any of our belongings recovered, and no leads on any suspects,” Boettcher said.

“It was a very violating feeling knowing that someone had been in our house and it has always been on my mind if they were going to come back.”

While the incident occurred two years ago, Boettcher has seen crime get steadily worse in the area around her small village of Alida, population 105. “Things have worsened for sure,” she said. “It seems like every week a new (crime) story emerges from the surrounding towns, or even my community of Alida.”

Alida is not alone in the province when it comes to rural crime.

On Monday, three masked and armed individuals attempted to rob an individual near Fiske. One week before, a church and several vehicles were vandalized in Redvers, and four trucks were stolen from the Edenwold area. A home invasion also took place at a rural property near Meadow Lake on Sept. 15. On July 22, a quad was stolen, and several vehicles were broken into, near Greenwater. A murder-suicide occurred outside Ponteix early in July, followed by a fatal shooting near Biggar in August.

“I think the issue is a struggling economy in our area,” Boettcher said. “Low oil prices has caused lots of job losses and it has been a great struggle to make ends meet for some people.”

In a 2007 study, which used 2005 Statistics Canada data, it was stated that small urban areas had 43 per cent more crime than large urban areas nationwide. Violent crime, property crime and break-ins were also highest in small urban areas. In that same study, it was found that the highest homicide rates in the country were in the rural areas of the three Prairie provinces.

One possible reason thieves target some rural and small urban areas is the fact that police detachments can be more than 20 minutes away from some communities.

“We have only one decent road into Alida, and the detachment that would most likely come to us has to take a gravel road that is full of potholes and is really bad.” Boettcher said. “In the winter it is worse.”

According to information from the Ministry of Justice, RCMP detachments in Saskatchewan have 874 general duty positions.

“There are challenges across the province, but we do deploy all our members,” said Sgt. Earl LeBlanc with the F Division RCMP Communications Unit. “We deal with every complaint that comes out and we do it with a priority basis.”

According to LeBlanc, no specific area of the province is any worse than the other in terms of crime.

“We have our complaints, from across the province but there is not a spot in the province that does not get complaints,” he said.

With reports of thefts and attempted robberies like the one in Fiske, several farmers have begun tweeting pictures of the firearms they carry in their tractors. In response, the RCMP is stressing that residents should leave dealing with criminals to the police.

“The RCMP urges residents to not take the law into their own hands,” LeBlanc said. “If you observe or suspect a crime, for your own safety and the safety of others, report it to the RCMP immediately.”

Rural crime and the distance between detachments is something that the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) are working to resolve through different programs, including starting a community safety officer program.

“We have had two intakes for that program, and it is administered by the provincial government,” said Randy Goulden, SUMA’s chair for the public safety and health committee. “Communities can partner with other communities to have an officer in their area.”

“They are trained individuals who can handle traffic violations and things like that,” said Ray Orb, president of SARM. “The program is working well. We have a number of officers who are trained and are out in areas now, working with the RCMP.”

Goulden said SUMA works with members to address the concerns of crime, and the concerns are taken to the areas of government deemed most appropriate.

“In the economy of policing, costs are growing, so we have to find innovative ways to provide for the safety of the community,” she said.

Municipalities under 5,000 people and without their own police force fall under the provincial policing contract and pay on a percapita basis. The rate is $77.06 per person for communities with a detachment, and $47.68 per capita for communities without one. Communities can pay an additional officer position at a detachment, costing upwards of $130,000 per year. The community, or communities, pay 70 per cent of one position’s time.

Orb feels the current rash of crime may have to do with the time of year as well.

“We have break-ins, we have thefts, we have farm machinery sitting around in fields. Fuel is an expensive commodity,” Orb said. “We had some complaints about the RCMP not being able to get to those areas. We understand the RCMP are restricted in that sense.”

For Boettcher, while she understands the challenges for the RCMP, her feeling of safety comes from the people around her.

“It is not law enforcement’s fault that the distance between towns is 30 kilometres on bad roads,” she said. “I am to the point that I don’t know if my first call would be 911 though. I would likely call for help in town from my friends or family first.”