MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Mountain View County council has approved four policing priorities it would like to see the three RCMP detachments in the district focus on in 2025-26.
The move came by way of motion at the recent regularly scheduled council meeting, held in person and online.
The detachments annually request council set the municipalities priorities.
The 2025-26 priorities are the same as in 2024-25: Connecting with rural community, including focus on joint force operations; reducing rural property crimes; rural drug enforcement; and mental health and domestic violence.
“The four priorities that are there are serving us well,” said Coun. Greg Harris.
During the March 12 council meeting, council accepted a quarterly report from Didsbury RCMP.
Detachment officers conducted 480 proactive patrols in Mountain View County in last three months of 2024, including in the Bergen and Cremona areas.
Detachment commander Staff Sgt. Stephen Browne outlined recent activities in the area of community priorities and community consultations, as well as recent crime statistics for the detachment’s rural areas.
One detachment’s community priorities for 2024-25 is ‘reducing rural property crime, including continued support for crime reduction team’, he said.
“Proactive patrols within the rural areas of the county continue to be priority,” said Browne. “Over this reporting period, Didsbury RCMP members did approximately 480 proactive patrols within the rural areas, including east of the QEII highway, and the Bergen, Cremona, Water Valley and Burnt Timber zones.
“These patrols (are) held to discourage crime in these less populated areas and help to decrease response time when one of these calls does come into service.”
The detachment’s officers responded to about 40 calls for service related to property crimes in the county, he said.
“Charges have been laid n regards to some of these calls for service,” he said.
The detachment continues to work closely with area crime reduction teams from Airdrie and the Southern Alberta District, as well as the new crime reduction unit in Olds, he said.
Didsbury officers hold monthly meetings with the probation officer who supervises the majority of the detachment’s rural area, he said.
“This allows for the consistent flow of intelligence and information sharing between the court officer and law enforcement,” he said.
“Officers regularly conduct release order compliance to deter repetition of crimes by these known offenders.”
Detachment officers are also in close and regular contact with officers from the Olds and Sundre detachments, he said.
In the third quarter (October to December), there were 12 mental health related calls for service, with three apprehensions required under the Mental Health Act, he said.
In the detachment’s Mountain View County area in 2024 there were a total of 164 total persons crimes, down from 169 in 2023.
There were 11 sexual assaults, 70 assaults, 34 criminal harassment calls, and 30 uttering threat calls in 2024.
As well, there were 248 total property crimes, down from 258 the previous year.
There were 27 break and enters, 23 theft of motor vehicle, 64 theft under $5,000, 40 mischief-property damage, 51 fraud, and 19 mischief calls in 2024.
The Olds and Sundre RCMP detachments also presented council with quarterly reports, which along with the Didsbury report, were accepted as information.
