SUNDRE – A small group of about a dozen residents from town and the surrounding area recently had a big discussion regarding various concerns about criminal activity.
The Sundre RCMP hosted three town halls last week, with the third and final two-hour long community outreach held on Thursday, March 21 at the Royal Canadian Legion Sundre Branch No. 223, which followed two prior public consultations held earlier that same week at the James River Community Centre as well as the Harmattan Community Centre.
In the absence of detachment commander Sgt. Trent Sperlie who was called away on a family emergency, Const. Locky Matheson filled in as acting commander. He was joined by district Staff Sgt. Laura Akitt, Sundre’s community peace officers Sam Zhao and Rob Plews as well as Mountain View County peace officer Kevin Heerema, Fish and Wildlife officer Levi Neufeld, and Alberta Conservation officer Doug George.
Recapping the past year’s priorities, Matheson cited the ongoing effort to further improve community relations, reduce crime with a focus on property thefts, mental health as well as substance abuse, and traffic enforcement.
“As a policing organization, we have an idea of what we believe the policing priorities should be,” said Akitt.
“But we like to get input from citizens and from the public just to ensure what we are concentrating on, is what the public would still like to see us concentrate on as part of our priorities,” she said.
Violent crime
Sundre-area resident Cindy Robinson, who spoke first, expressed concerns about “murders or attempted murders in town; that’s a bit overwhelming.”
Other people that she has spoken with also share the same concern, said Robinson.
“What the hell is going on? That’s concerning,” she said. “Because you’re dealing with a lot of new ethnicities into basically a Caucasian community.”
Small towns, she said, don’t have the same level of diversity as big cities.
“It’s a lot different when you’re in a small community that’s highly Caucasian, and then you have a small infiltration of people that come from other ethnicities that don’t even hardly speak English, and are carrying a lot of their cultural ways with them as evidenced by what’s been happening,” she said.
“None of us want to be in the centre of whatever’s going on. It’s concerning,” she said.
Drawing from his own personal experience policing in Sundre for the past roughly three years, Matheson said, “I have seen one criminal offence committed by new Canadians that was up there. One only.”
Sundre resident Elizabeth Bennett, who has called the community home for some 50 years and whose husband was once an officer, also challenged Robinson’s assertion.
“With respect, I’d like to push back – just a little bit – on that,” said Bennett.
“I also had a brother in the RCMP so I knew what they dealt with,” she said. “And in this community I can only speak for, there’s been way more local people commit really heinous crimes against each other – domestic or otherwise – than I’ve ever heard of new Canadians. And domestic problems occur throughout the world between all families.”
Matheson also sought to clarify that the instances of murder and attempted murder that in recent years have unfolded in the area presented no threat to the greater public.
“It wasn’t directed out into the bigger community,” he said.
Mental health
The discussion then turned to the matter of mental health, which Sundre RCMP have seen an increase in calls for, he said, later adding the detachment had throughout the past quarter responded to 13 such calls.
“We have more and more tools that are available to us now,” he added.
Akitt said mental health has become a growing concern everywhere and mentioned the Regional Police and Crisis Teams (RPACT) that were introduced to reach people before they reach a crisis point, as well as the ongoing effort to deploy more teams.
“We do believe that is going to help a lot,” she said.
Bennett agreed the issue of mental health is a huge concern.
“Whether due to addictions, broken families, social stresses, which is not unique to new Canadians, because we have our own social stresses as well,” she said.
Rural policing presence
Robinson also asked how the police measure their presence out in more remote rural areas.
“That’s where we do rely on our partners,” said Matheson, referring to peace officers from Mountain View and Clearwater counties as well as Fish and Wildlife and Alberta Conservation.
“If there’s something reported to us, they may be there already and we can relay information between us,” he said.
“We work quite closely together,” added Neufeld.
“It’s a matter of us finding these situations. If we do come across them, we contact the RCMP,” said the Fish and Wildlife officer, adding the agencies might all be a bit different but that they’re all on the same team.
Prolific offenders
Bennett, who also shared a concern about the safety of her son who works out in oilfield sites that are regularly targeted by thieves, asked how much organized crime police have perceived.
“As far as organized (crime), I really don’t know how to answer that,” said Matheson.
That being said, the officer added there are a number of offenders from outside the region who tend to travel back and forth, taking any stolen goods out of the area. That’s where the RCMP’s Crime Reduction Unit plays an important role by providing logistical support and assistance with personnel, paperwork, and crime analysis, he added.
“They watch these individuals,” he said, adding the unit makes available names and sometimes pictures and vehicle descriptions to facilitate the effort to monitor their activities.
“They will provide us with bait – generators, vehicles, spools of copper wire – that we can place at some of these lease sites,” he said, adding police can track those items.
Bennett suggested the priority should be stopping demand for material like copper and that more pressure ought to be applied on bulk buyers.
While there are new laws requiring anybody selling copper to present a proper business licence and valid identification, Matheson added, “Some of the recyclers may not follow the rules.”
Akitt added that plain clothed officers with the CRU based out of Airdrie track “prolific offenders that are known to us.”
“Some prolific offenders, when they steal something, will try to get a quick buck,” she said. “They’ll post it on Facebook, they’ll post it wherever. We know the property is stolen. Our CRU team, because they’re undercover, will go in, they’ll purchase the product for whatever amount of money and then the individual is arrested. So the CRU teams have been extremely successful.”
But rates of recidivism generally mean that once released, the offenders all too often fall back into old habits as that’s all they know, she said.
That led to a brief discussion about the courts system.
“That’s where we can contribute, is to put that pressure on our government officials to make that happen,” said Bennett, referring to tougher sentences.
Police rely heavily on tips
Perhaps the underlying message conveyed was the importance of reporting concerns about crime to police sooner than later.
“I’m aware that there are some companies that don’t report, or they’ll wait until a major incident where they lose 10s and 100s of thousands of dollars worth of equipment,” said Matheson.
“Then they’ll report and say, ‘Oh yeah, we got broke into five times in the past six months,’” he said, adding police need to know about something – no matter how minor – if they are to respond.
“We could have tried to prevent it if we knew about it,” he said, adding that’s no different for any other offence.
That’s where volunteer organizations such as Rural Crime Watch and Citizens on Patrol can play a huge role, he said.
Even if police are unable to immediately respond to the original location of a sighting, as information comes in such as details about a suspect vehicle, officers have a better chance of catching up with them somewhere else either committing another crime or being in a stolen vehicle that links them back to other offences.
Robinson said there is a level of complacency among rural residents in more remote areas as suspects are typically long gone before police arrive at the scene, so some people don’t see the point in calling the RCMP.
“At the end of the day, if we don’t know about it, we cannot act and we will not act,” said Akitt.
“If they’re committing a crime in a rural area,” added Heerema, “chances are pretty good they’re going to go through one of our towns or hit one of the major highways to get to wherever they’re going next.”
Jack Goodall, a member of the Sundre Citizens on Patrol Association who attended the meeting, invited anyone who is concerned about crime in the community to consider joining the group and committing to conducting a minimum of one monthly patrol or more depending on their availability.
Matheson also urged people not to call the detachment’s direct line but rather the complaint line at 403-638-3655 or 911.
