About 30 people attended the Jan. 30 Olds Rural Crime Watch Association meeting in Mountain View County council chambers.
The association works with local RCMP and other stakeholders to report criminal activities and promote crime prevention.
The meeting saw members pass a motion regarding the possibility of bringing front licence plates back to Alberta vehicles as a way to help reduce vehicle thefts and improve reporting of criminal activities.
The motion calls for the association to send a letter to Mountain View County council asking for the municipality to put forward a resolution with the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA).
If passed, the resolution would be used to lobby the provincial government to bring back front plates.
Association president Gerald Ingeveld says rural crime watch associations across the province have been calling for front licence plates to be reinstated in Alberta.
“The RCMP say that it would be helpful to them when a vehicle is approaching to check that licence (front) plate,” said Ingeveld. “Right now if they are looking for a vehicle that has been reported stolen and they meet a vehicle, they have to do the highway turnaround to get after the vehicle to check the back plate.”
Having front plates could also assist school bus drivers in getting the plate number of vehicles that don’t stop for flashing red lights on the buses, he said.
As well, having front plates could make it easier for landowners to identify vehicles coming onto their property, he said.
“I think it doubles your opportunity to get a plate number and it would also slow down some of the thefts. If you have to steal two plates it would take twice as long and maybe we’d get a little less of that as well,” he said.
Ingeveld, who also sits on the provincial rural crime watch association, says he plans to encourage other local rural crime watch associations to send similar letters to their respective municipalities.
Meanwhile, the Jan. 30 meeting also saw a police presentation on what to look for and what to record when witnessing crimes.
Sundre RCMP Const. Don Poirier says people witnessing crimes, including thefts and other property offences, can be helpful to investigators by recording specific details.
“You guys know when you see something that’s suspicious that it’s not right,” said Poirier. “If anything is suspicious to you guys, first and foremost call us right away.”
Recording the suspicious vehicle’s licence plate number, make, model and other details such as colour is always worthwhile, he said.
Taking photographs of suspicious vehicles can be a quick and easy way to record details, he said.
“Anything that stands out we can use as part of our fan-out, like roll bars or custom fenders and stuff like that,” he said.
As far as identifying suspicious individuals, taking a photo is also a good technique, he said.
“We’ve had success with people taking a quick photo of somebody,” he said. “We have a huge resource of police officers that we can send these photos to. If we can have photos usually we will link them to something.
“I’ve got a couple files where I’ve had success sending the photo to surrounding detachments and there’s that one member who knows who that person is.”
Record details such as hair colour, tattoos, whether the individual is wearing glasses, and details of their clothing, he said.
“Anything that identifies the person can be helpful,” he said.
Also record details such as time of day and exact location of the incident, he said.
The Jan. 30 meeting also saw RCMP officers from Olds, Didsbury and Sundre give updates on 2018 crime statistics.
In all three detachments, property crimes have declined from 2017 levels.
Olds RCMP Staff Sgt. Jim Macdonald said there was a 27 per cent decline in break and enters (92 in 2017 and 67 in 2018), a 42 per cent decrease in motor vehicle thefts (76-39), a 54 per cent decrease in possession of stolen property (52-24), and an 18 per cent decrease in mischief to property (124-108).
Meanwhile, a community fundraising garage sale will be held in Olds on Feb. 9 in support of rural crime watch.
The sale will include items seized by police as part of investigations and turned over to the association after police were unable to find the owners of the property.
The Olds Rural Crime Watch Association annual general meeting will be held on March 27.
