Al Kemmere, a Mountain View County councillor and president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), has met with the newly appointed national head of the RCMP and the head of the RCMP in Alberta to discuss issues and concerns for rural Alberta.
The meeting with Commissioner Designate Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki took place in Edmonton on March 20 as part of the RMA’s spring convention.
Kemmere says issues discussed at the meeting included the need for the fight against rural crime to continue.
“They wanted to talk about rural crime and rural issues,” said Kemmere. “We talked about the issues that affect rural municipalities and the coordination with the RCMP.”
Asked if the RCMP officials indicated they plan to put more resources into the fight against rural crime, Kemmere said, “I think that is one of their mandates. They were emphasizing the fact that they have started on some of their crime reduction strategies, and they are not finished with that by any means.
“They’ve got a plan and they are putting more resources in. They are always trying to reach their recruitment and training goals and they assured us they are making headway on the amount of recruitment they are doing.”
The RMA represents 69 rural municipalities, including Mountain View and Red Deer counties.
