Concerned about an apparent lack of police presence in town, Bowden council is inviting the commander of the Olds RCMP detachment to a future meeting to talk about reported spikes in crime in the community.
“I'm not happy about the amount of police we have in town,” Bowden mayor Robb Stuart said at council's June 24 meeting.
He shared examples of recent incidents of crime in town with council, including a vandalism and theft spree from June 20 to 23 where tires on a number of vehicles were slashed, sheds and garages were broken into and a number of items were stolen.
Coun. Patrick Doll, while questioning the Mounties' monitoring of the community, raised the idea of establishing a “bounty” in town where anyone who provides information about a crime that leads to a conviction or the recovery of stolen property would receive cash.
He said other communities have tried such a system and the results were positive.
Stuart said many offenders who are caught for such crimes receive little or no punishment in the courts and so any money put aside to deal with crime would be better suited for helping victims repair damage or replace stolen items.
The idea of creating a new “block watch” or citizens on patrol organization to help combat crime in Bowden was also tabled.
But council ultimately wanted to talk to the RCMP to see if police can patrol the town more often.
At the end of the discussion, council passed a motion calling on town staff to invite Staff Sgt. Joe Sangster to a council meeting to talk about crime in the community and concerns about police presence.
Sangster, who assumed command of the Olds RCMP detachment last month, said he had contacted Town of Bowden staff on June 26 to explain why he hadn't yet introduced himself in the community and to ask if they had any concerns.
He said four detachment members were helping out with flood relief efforts in southern Alberta and so the detachment was short-staffed in recent days.
Sangster plans to visit Bowden as soon as possible, however, and aims to have a serious discussion with council about policing.
“If there are those concerns, they will be addressed.”
He added the detachment usually has two to three members working at any given time and “Bowden is part of our patrol area and we do make patrols there.”
“But the requests for service in the town of Olds, in the rural area, in the village of Torrington also have requests. So it's a challenge to be everywhere at all times. We do the best with what we have.”
On top of being out in the community, police are also tasked with carrying out significant amounts of paperwork and reports for court that require large amounts of time, Sangster said.
“We'd love to be on the street more but it seems like the amount of paperwork for us as a police service, like all other police services in the country, has increased. It takes time to get that done.”
