MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – Mountain View County council has been given an update on policing in the district and in Alberta.
The review came during a recent regularly scheduled council meeting, with Trevor Daroux, chief superintendent RCMP Southern Alberta District, and Didsbury RCMP detachment commander Staff Sgt. Chad Fournier appearing as a delegation.
Daroux spoke about shift scheduling, technology, crime reduction, and the inclusion of community input in police planning.
“We want to work across the spectrum of education, prevention, treatment and, of course, enforcement,” said Daroux. “We recognize the issues that we are facing in policing far exceeds any single agency’s ability to effectively address them. We need to work collaboratively with other agencies.
“The enforcement side does fall to us and none of these other things work without having proper enforcement.”
Officials are looking at shift scheduling at detachments, he said.
“Is there a better way that we can schedule the officers to have them more visible in the communities?” he said. “We are looking at technology and how does technology assist us. Technology now allows us to dispatch officers from vehicles, to stay in the community a lot more.”
The crime reduction units operating in the region and elsewhere in the province have been making positive strides, he said.
“They do a lot of the work that you are not going to see,” he said. “They are targeting those prolific offenders who really are a small percentage of the population but who commit a significant amount of harm.”
Recent examples of the work of crime reduction units in the region include a series of break and enters where five people were arrested and charged, where 10 individuals were arrested and 13 charges laid, and where one person was arrested and 14 charges laid.
“The units are doing an outstanding job targeting those prolific offenders,” he said.
Staff Sgt. Fournier says officers in this area have been making good use of crime analyst support available through the crime prevention units.
Police plan to make increased use of local community input, including for Mountain View County, said Daroux.
“As we go forward you are going to be seeing less provincial priorities and more community priorities,” he said.
Coun. Greg Harris, a former Calgary police officer, said the crime reduction units have made “dramatic progress” in recent months.
Deputy Reeve Angela Aalbers chaired the council meeting.
“We hope that we are going to be able to work hand in hand and support you as much as we can,” said Aalbers. “We appreciate and thank you for all of the work you do for our communities and for keeping us safe.”
Councillors passed a motion accepting the presentation for information.
