MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – RCMP officers need to "spend more time catching the criminals" and "not go into the schools and tell the kids what great people cops are," says Coun. Gord Krebs.
Olds RCMP detachment commander Staff Sgt. Warren Wright, Sundre RCMP interim commander Sgt. Randy Poon, and Didsbury RCMP Cpl. Shane O’Neill appeared before council on June 14 to go over recent crime statistics and discuss issues and priorities with council.
During the RCMP delegations appearance, councillors asked questions of the officers and made comments.
“We don’t need pancake breakfasts and I don’t think recruitment should be your job; you should have other people who do that,” said Coun. Krebs. "We’ve got lots of crime out there, lots of drugs, lots of weapons charges.
“I’m saying I want (police) to be catching the criminals, spend more time catching the criminals than in here telling us that you are doing that.
“I feel for you having to work for the justice system, but you guys also have to do your job first. You have to catch the guys. That’s what we are asking you to do, not go into the schools and tell the kids what great people cops are.”
None of the delegation officers responded to Kreb’s comments.
Reeve Angela Aalbers asked a question about community engagement sessions conducted by the detachments recent months.
“I’m wondering how those community engagements are going and whether or not you feel they are an effective use of your time and whether or not there are other options to try and do community engagements via video or things a little more conducive to people’s time,” said Aalbers.
Staff Sgt. Wright said a recent public engagement meeting at the Bergen Hall was “very well received” and there are plans for future meetings in the district.
“I believe they are incredibly valuable and I’d like to do more of them,” he said. “The conversations were very robust and interesting. I’d like to expand that throughout the county.”
“I would like to probably do Eagle Hill because I feel that was maybe a bit of a gap in terms of the area.”
Coun. Peggy Johnson said she would be in support of an engagement session being held in Eagle Hill, which is part of her Division 6.
The county has set three policing priorities it would like to see focused on in 2023: crime prevention and enforcement; community engagement and visibility; and mental health and domestic violence.
Officers at all three detachments continue to target habitual offenders in the district, said Wright.
“The top, say, 10 per cent of the persons who chose to do crime in our community are responsible for 90 per cent of the crime in our community,” said Wright.
Educating the public on the dangers of cyber crime will be a Sundre detachment priority going forward, said Sgt. Poon.
“I see that as one aspect that we can certainly increase,” he said.
Staff Sgt. Wright said the detachments are regularly updated on scams and frauds occurring in the province and the district.
The detachments have been making use of the Regional Policing and Crisis Teams to help respond to mental health occurrences in their detachment areas.
Wright said he would like to see an Regional Policing and Crisis Team unit based in Olds.
Council also met in an in-camera session with the officers during the June 14 council meeting.
Council carried a motion accepting the RCMP delegation as information.
