The Olds Rural Crime Watch will be able to continue its fan-out initiative after being approved for funding at a recent Mountain View County meeting. Following a presentation to council on Nov. 7 from Dave Sharek, president of Olds Rural Crime Watch, councillors passed a motion to approve $2,810 in funding for Olds Rural Crime Watch for 2013 and gave the association their continuing support. Sharek says the organization has used a lot of the money it received last year to support their fan-out system and will continue to do so in 2013. “These funds were initially granted to our organization to assist in general operating costs. It also covered things like telephone bills and still does, but there are additional costs that come up as we grow,” said Sharek. “We've done a few upgrades including our substantial fan-out system that has cost us about $22,000.”The fan-out system is an intricate alert system that uses the association's personal website, emails and phone alerts.When the RCMP want to communicate with the entire membership, or a specific area, the message is put out verbally, then digitally entered in the computer and the dialer automatically calls all the phone numbers within the specified area.The information sometimes is local, but often there are reports of activities in other areas in the province.“There could be a criminal activity happen in Peace River country, but it's just a matter of hours until that activity could come into our area,” he says. “With this system, we're able to be kept up to date and respond quickly.”The system will redial all busy or unanswered calls three times and if unanswered, the system will leave a message on voice mail and answering machines.“Crime happens with the snap of your fingers and we do what we can to keep on top of it,” he says. “We've had great success with the fan-out system and there has been a lot of criminal activity and crimes solved by police that were a result of the response from citizens.” MVC Coun. Al Kemmere commended the organization's members for their efforts over the past year and encouraged them to continue the work.“I think it is a great initiative,” said Kemmere.Sharek, who was previously on the board for the Didsbury Crime Watch association, says he has seen many rural watch groups expand to the point their effectiveness sometimes suffers.“The RCMP are really strapped for members in some areas and when we have had several crime watch associations within one county it has made it almost impossible for those RCMP members to cover and attend all the meetings in the area,” said Sharek.About four years ago, Didsbury, Olds and Sundre successfully joined forces to make better use of their resources and have better contact with local RCMP.Since then the organization has seen its membership and coverage area grow to the point it now covers the entire county and has close contact with officers in the area.“We now have total coverage of Mountain View County with our fan-out system and we are almost always guaranteed to have at least one RCMP member at our meetings,” he says.“We operate with total commitment to community and Mountain View County members and residents.”Sharek encourages everyone to do his or her part when it comes to rural and community crime watch. “If you notice a suspicious vehicle or activity, do not approach the person but gather any viable vehicle information or vehicle identification and relay that to your local RCMP detachment,” he says.
