Bowden council and the Olds RCMP detachment's commander met to "clear the air" regarding some of council's concerns about what they felt was a lack of communication between police and the town during a recent search for a shooting suspect in Bowden .
Bowden council and the Olds RCMP detachment's commander met to "clear the air" regarding some of council's concerns about what they felt was a lack of communication between police and the town during a recent search for a shooting suspect in Bowden.
THE BACKGROUND
At its June 9 meeting, council questioned why police did not keep them informed while Mounties were searching for a suspect in Bowden on June 5 connected to an alleged attempted robbery and shooting near Innisfail that happened the same day.
Mayor Robb Stuart said at that meeting no one from any of the local police detachments involved had let him know what had happened during the search.
"It's unacceptable to me that this happened Thursday night and at Monday's night's council meeting we still have no information," he said.
Council members also discussed how a lack of information from police made it difficult for them when fielding telephone calls from residents who reported hearing numerous stories about what was happening in the community.
"Plus, the rumours just abound then, right?" Stuart said. "The school lockdown, I heard they told the Reddi Mart to close and the hotel to close Thursday night."
While the police search in Bowden on June 5 and the subsequent arrest of a suspect on June 6 in Bowden were under the jurisdiction of the Innisfail RCMP, Stuart said since Bowden falls within the Olds detachment's area, the Olds RCMP should have kept the town's administration informed.
Members of council agreed.
"As the mayor, you don't know what's going on," said Coun. Paul Webb. "That's craziness."
Coun. Earl Wilson added he felt police detachments in Olds and Innisfail should have lists of people such as community administrators that a police staff member could call when such a situation was unfolding.
Andy Weiss, the town's chief administrative officer, told council he did speak with Staff Sgt. Joe Sangster from the Olds RCMP detachment following the events of June 5 and 6 where Sangster said if there was a danger to Bowden residents, more police would have been in the area and that police do not have time to call the mayor and council in the thick of an investigation.
It was also pointed out police did issue a media release about the events of June 5 and 6 on June 6 but Coun. Sheila Church said she could not find the release online.
Stuart ultimately called for council to pass a motion to have town staff ask the RCMP for more information about their communication protocols and to determine if there was a problem with such protocols during the June 5 incident.
"We definitely have to go to K Division in Edmonton and make sure that their protocols are being followed," he said. "If all the protocols were met, I still don't think it's right."
The motion was unanimously carried.
CONCERNS ADDRESSED
To address the concerns from June 9, Sangster sat down with Bowden council at its June 23 meeting.
"We had a few people phoning us in the last couple weeks about what we knew and we just thought we'd get you here and clear the air," Stuart said before thanking Sangster for sharing information with him during a manhunt in Bowden on June 12 related to the incident on June 5.
Sangster said "communications is something we can all improve on" and added there are often cases where information can't be passed on due to an ongoing investigation and other situations where an assisting police agency may not have all the information that the leading police agency would have.
He also reiterated it was the view of police at the time of the June 5 incident that "there was no risk to the community."
Coun. Lloyd Lane responded, however, that he believed the effort by police to communicate with the town on June 5 and 6 "just wasn't good enough."
"I personally think there's got to be some followup on this. That was absolutely farce what happened in Bowden (on June 5)," he said, adding since the mayor, who is also the town's emergency management director, had no information, he was practically put in a "liable situation."
"Because everybody depends on him having the information."
Sangster said such a comment was "fair" but "there are some things that you don't get to know."
Lane disagreed and Stuart said his roles in the community give him "a little bit of entitlement."
Sangster said such entitlement would only apply in the case of a state of emergency being declared and the search and arrest in Bowden on June 5 and 6 was not a state of emergency.
"As a father and a grandparent, somebody running around the town potentially with a gun is an emergency to me," Lane said.
When Sangster said he agreed it was an emergency but not a state of emergency, Lane said he was arguing "semantics."
Sangster said he was not.
"When we can't handle a job, that's when we declare a state of emergency. When I need help, that's when we declare a state of emergency," he said, adding he did, however, understand Lane's concerns. "There's an issue here. But we're taking care of it. It's secluded, it's contained, there's no risk."
Wilson said Sangster was missing the point that a Bowden resident witnessing police activity in their community including road closures and RCMP helicopters overheard is also "entitled" to information about what was happening.
"You can sit there today and say, 'Well, there was no danger to the community today.' You can sit there today and say that but where were you on that Thursday night (June 5)?" he said.
Sangster said he was not present in Bowden that night because the incident was the Innisfail RCMP's investigation.
"Then we're talking to the wrong guy," Wilson said, adding someone needs to take responsibility and not "shove it down the road."
"It has to stop somewhere."
Sangster said he was not ducking any responsibility.
"I've never done that in my career. I wouldn't do that to you. Don't jump to assumptions with me."
THE INNISFAIL CONNECTION
Staff Sgt. Chris Matechuk, commander of the Innisfail RCMP detachment, said in a telephone interview on June 26, that the Olds RCMP are the "detachment of jurisdiction" for Bowden and so protocol dictates the town would need to look to them for information about any police activity in the community.
He added the June 5 and 6 incident was over in a short period of time and police felt there was no need to alert the town of what members were doing.
"If we had to notify council with stuff like that we'd be calling them all night long, dozens and dozens and dozens of times. That wasn't something that was protracted. If it was something that was protracted and it involved safety concerns with the community then we would engage," Matechuk said. "But most certainly if we're locking down a house, most certainly then, like on the arrest of Dillon Bristow (on June 12 and 13), most certainly the towns would be notified."
He said any changes the town would like to see to current communication protocols would need to be discussed with the Olds RCMP.
"In plain English, I wouldn't cut their grass. That's their area of responsibility. My duty is to notify them."
Sangster said at the meeting that police have to have priorities in situations.
"It's a situation where, do you want us to focus on, for that short period of time, I'm not talking after, I'm not talking the next morning, do you want us to worry about getting information out to each individual residence in the community here, and second, how to do that, but do you want us to do that or do you want us to contain the area and make sure the bad guy is taken into custody?" he said.
Sangster added, however, that more can be done to get information to community officials.
"With that being said, could we have notified the community somehow, could I have phoned the mayor, or whoever was working phone me and say, OK, could you let the mayor know too that everything's OK in the community? Most definitely. Did we fail in that part? Most definitely."
For future incidents, he encouraged members of Bowden council or its administration to call or email him.
"It's about making sure that this doesn't happen again."
He said he made an effort to improve communication with the town during the June 12 incident and brought up the shootings and manhunt in Moncton earlier this month as a "prime example of the positive outcome you can get" through community information sharing.
"Because that's what caught this guy."
Stuart said he took responsibility for not phoning Sangster when he did not receive word from police after the incident on June 5 and 6 and added "We, as a town, definitely need a better communication system."
THE PLAN
Later in the meeting, council passed a motion calling on town staff to develop a new communication system for the town including the use of social media tools such as Facebook.
Weiss said the town receives requests from the public on a "fairly consistent basis" to set up a social media presence.
Two letters from Bowden residents included in the June 23 council meeting documents state the failure of police to share information with the community was "unacceptable" and the residents suggested the town set up social media notifications, an emergency page on the town's website, an emergency "fan-out list" or even use fire sirens and a megaphone to get important information out.
When asked who would control such tools, Weiss said he or Jade Prefontaine, the town's development officer, could administrate any information distribution system.
He added since not everyone uses social media or even owns a computer, there is no "magic bullet" to communicate with everyone in town and so other forms of information distribution would also be necessary.
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