SUNDRE – Residents and business owners interested in ensuring their properties are made as secure as possible may request an assessment conducted by a new RCMP unit that will check out the site and provide a report outlining tips to reduce the chances of being targeted by thieves.
Carolyn McTighe, RCMP crime prevention liaison for the Southern Alberta District, remotely presented a slideshow to council during the regular Feb. 6 meeting. Also attending in person was Sgt. Trent Sperlie, the local detachment’s commander.
Part of a larger unit created and rolled out last September by the Alberta RCMP called the Community Safety and Well-being Branch, McTighe said her division – the Crime Prevention Unit – is steadily expanding to hire more liaison officers to be placed throughout Alberta.
Among the objectives outlined in her unit’s mandate is the main goal of reducing recurring incidents of property crime.
“The way that we do that is through something called Project Lock Up,” said McTighe. “That basically is just reaching out to businesses and residents that have been the victim of break and enters.”
The process involves establishing contact with affected property owners, collecting information about the break-ins, as well as providing brochures that outline tips and strategies on how to make a property less appealing to potential burglars, she said.
“And then we also offer onsite assessments,” she said, adding the consultations are available at no cost.
“We go to the site and do a security walk throughout their property and then provide a detailed report of any suggestions that we have on areas where there may have been a safety concern.”
McTighe also discussed a decades-old concept called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) that more recently has been increasingly adopted into development planning strategies to reduce property offences. In a nutshell, CPTED is a theory that focuses on tactical design and effective use of a surrounding environment, which properly applied can reduce break-ins and by extension the fear of property crime.
“They kind of fall outside of that Project Lock Up,” she said. “These are ones that if the detachment commander decides that there is a location, a business in town, or even a residence that could use a safety assessment, they can come and request that specifically.”
In the event a detachment commander submits such a request, the unit’s response is similar to Project Lock Up in that the property is fully evaluated and a report prepared, she said.
Furthermore, information gleaned through Project Lock Up and property assessments is compiled and used to develop new programs that are tailored more specifically to a department’s jurisdiction, she added.
“So for example, in the last week, we’ve been told now that we’re going to be starting to focus more on auto theft; there is a need across the province for that,” she said.
Lastly, but certainly not least, she said the unit also strives to develop, foster and maintain partnerships with citizen-led groups including Rural Crime Watch and Citizens on Patrol.
“We just try to get the information out to those local volunteers so they understand kind of what we’re doing and what we’re available to do within the community,” she said.
“We’re always happy to have them tag along when we do an assessment.”
The four key components of Project Lock Up are: more patrols in hardest-hit neighbourhoods; enhanced victim support; additional tools and resources for repeat victims; enhanced investigative response.
“When we are analyzing the information that we get from our data analysts on the properties that have been targeted, if we start to see trends that they’re happening in particular neighbourhoods or business districts, we can reach out to the local detachment and let them know and see if there’s a possibility to enhance patrols in those areas,” she said, adding it’s also possible to invite members of citizen-led groups to patrol places identified as higher risk.
Additionally, there are government grants available – mostly for businesses for the time being – to help property owners enhance their security, she said.
“There’s a bunch of criteria you have to meet,” she said. “But they have to have a CPTED assessment done.”
Most of the property owners who have been targeted by thieves typically agree when offered to have an assessment done, but the offer indefinitely remains on the table for any who initially decline, she said.
“It is open to them at any point down the road if they do decide it is something they want,” she said.
Recognizing that crime cannot be prevented 100 per cent of the time, she said efforts can nevertheless be made to educate people and provide communities with opportunities to improve their security.
Concluding her presentation, McTighe said there are instances of repeat break-ins that sometimes go unreported by the owner, and emphasized the importance of filing police reports so the RCMP’s data analysts are able to get a much clearer picture of where property crime is most prevalent.
Coun. Jaime Marr asked if organizations such as Chinook Arch Victim’s Services Society have a part to play in the process.
In the past, there was not much of a role involving victim services when an assessment was being done in a community. But that is changing, said McTighe.
“In the last week, we had a request by victim services that we possibly open it up for them to come along with us on some of those assessments to offer their services to those victims of the break-and-enters,” she said.
“It is evolving,” she said about her unit. “What shape it’s going to take, I’m not really sure.”
Coun. Owen Petersen inquired about the CPTED assessments and whether municipalities might also be able to request site tours when for example developing plans for new town-owned parks or facilities.
“Would you come in and take a look at the plans, and give some direction to our planners?” he asked.
“Yes, absolutely,” said McTighe.
“Although I say it’s predominately residential and businesses, it is kind of a wide-sweeping thing,” she said, going onto cite other examples like apartment complexes and oil lease sites.
“And yeah; with new developments in communities, we have sat down with them and had opportunities to talk with them about the things they should be looking at in the development stages of planning a community build,” she said.
Mayor Richard Warnock asked about the unit’s scale, and who the point of contact would be for future reference.
“When I say ‘we’, I’m speaking as a collective of me and my colleagues,” she said, with a laugh, adding there are currently four of them, including herself, with hopes to eventually add more.
As for a point of contact, McTighe said the options include either going through the local RCMP department or to directly connect with herself.
“I just like to keep the detachment commander in the loop,” she said. “So, it’s always best to go through them.”
Council carried a motion accepting the report for information.
Prior to parting council chambers, Sperlie said, “That is definitely the way that we’re going to combat crime in the future. When we go from crime scene to crime scene to crime scene, we’re always behind them. This is getting in front of them.”
