OLDS — The flurry of community meetings or workshops organized by Olds RCMP just keeps coming.
The latest one, on family violence (also known as domestic violence), is planned for March.
Olds RCMP commanding officer Staff Sgt. Warren Wright announced it during a meeting with local news media on Feb. 1.
Wright, with help from others, held three town hall meetings on crime in Olds, Bowden and Mountain View County late last month.
He also announced plans to hold a community meeting/workshop on fraud, expected to be held in May.
Wright said he knows he wants to hold the gathering about family violence in March, but he doesn’t yet have a precise date, time or venue firmed up.
“I know where I’d like to have it, but I need to confirm that with the venue. And in terms of the date, I’m not 100 per cent sure whether it’s going to be during the day or during the evening," he said.
Wright said the gathering will likely include input from specialists on the topic from outside the detachment.
“We felt that it would be good timing, really, to put together a workshop presentation open to anyone concerning just domestic violence awareness,” Wright said.
“Not only awareness – like what to look for in other people -- but what to look for within yourself, so it’s more of an education thing.”
Wright said another positive aspect of such a meeting might be that some attendees might come to police later and report a family violence matter that they’re aware of.
Justin Andrew, the town’s director of protective services, said all these meetings fit neatly within the town’s goal to focus on proactive community policing.
"Actually it’s taken some time to get there, but it’s getting so much better, because now, the RCMP is dedicating a lot of that resource to make available,” Andrew said.
“To find subject matter experts to talk about domestic violence or fraud prevention or the situations of ageism, it’s a lot better than it has been.”
