Re: "RCMP commend public help," p. 1, March 12 Gazette.
I would like to comment on the March 12 Mountain View Gazette article. Crunching the crime statistics reported in the article, for the Mountain View area in 2018, I note that the Sundre RCMP detachment, comprising approximately 17 per cent of the region's police members, handled roughly 29 per cent of reported crime.
I also observe that the town's detachment was built some 50 years ago, when there were probably three members using the facility. Both the towns of Olds and Didsbury have much newer and more spacious buildings to work out of. It's obvious to me that both Sundre's police detachment and hospital are long overdue for replacement; both constructed half a century, or more, ago.
I realize that there is a formula in place, based in part on population, that determines whether a centre receives full federal and provincial granting for policing. With the potential of the Bighorn park looming west of Sundre, replacement of these facilities becomes even more paramount.
An option may be for the Town of Sundre to work towards a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional Emergency Services Centre (ESC). If police, fire and bylaw functions were to share funding with provincial agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Branch (FWEB) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS), obtaining adequate and timely funding for a single facility may be more realistic.
The time to starting thinking and planning for this, I believe, is now, not later.
Murray Bates,
Bearberry
