Mountain View County (MVC) may be calling on the provincial government to do more to address rural crime and its impacts on the district.
Rural property crime levels in particular have risen markedly across Alberta in recent months, with crime watch associations and the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) among the groups calling for action.
At this week’s county council meeting, MVC councillors are scheduled to consider a number of one-page issue summaries that, if approved, will be sent to various provincial government ministries.
The summaries deal with issues and concerns affecting the county and its residents. They have been prepared by the county’s intergovernmental communications committee.
One of the summaries is scheduled to be sent to the Department of Justice and Solicitor General and relates to rural crime.
The summary outlines three specific areas of concern:
- Like many of our rural counterparts, and as articulated by the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, there is continued concern within the rural and remote communities in Alberta regarding the trends in criminal activity in these areas. We are also concerned with the lack of prosecutions due to an overburdened criminal justice system, which results in very little deterrent for criminal activity and a heightened potential for repeat offenders.
- The initiative announced by the ministry earlier this year to hire and place more RCMP officers, while welcome, just adds to the backlog in unfilled positions in the province, particularly in rural areas where finding adequate recruits to fill the detachment needs is even more difficult.
- Further, initiatives empowering municipal peace officers with enhanced tools have been left unsupported by K Division and the ministry. In fact, as outlined in the Lazenby Report, denying of access to critical information such as that available through CPIC (a law enforcement computer system) has made execution of current duties for municipal peace officers difficult and dangerous.
The rural crime summary also includes a call for provincial action on the matter:
- The ministry develop a strategy to relieve the backlog of cases currently facing the provincial court system, through ensuring an adequate number of judges and prosecutors.
- Propose amendments to the federal Criminal Code to increase the minimum sentencing perpetrators of property crime can face.
- Work with K Division (Alberta) to extend access to CPIC to municipal peace officers to increase officer safety and to help identify potential criminal activity.
Councillors are scheduled to consider a motion to approve the summaries and instruct administration to forward them to the ministries.
