Two armed robberies – one “successful” and one attempted – as well as break-ins to businesses and homes underline the need for people to co-operate with police and each other to fight crime.
That's the message from Olds & District Community Policing Advisory Society secretary Judy Schlichenmayer.
“We just had a Rural Crime Watch provincial convention last weekend and I was talking to some representatives from Red Deer County and everybody was saying, ‘we need to get together and share better information and get more co-ordinated because we can't work in silos,'” she told the Albertan.
“We definitely have to help the RCMP and (other) police services, because they can't be everywhere and they need to know the information.”
Schlichenmayer said it might be time to resurrect an old program, Stop Thief, which encourages people to make sure they don't have any valuables in their vehicles, etc. that could attract thieves.
One attempted armed robbery occurred at Our Flames Restaurant and Lounge the evening of Feb. 4. Another armed robbery occurred at Panago Pizza on Jan. 30.
On Feb. 1, thieves smashed a jeep into the front doors of Easyhome furniture rental/leasing store in Cornerstone and made off with about $2,000 worth of electronics.
Olds RCMP are also investigating several other business and residential break-ins, not to mention suspicious activities.
“Just two weeks before (the armed robbery, etc.), some of the reports coming through were talking about armed robberies at A & W in Red Deer. I was thinking ‘oh my God, this is really getting bad,'” Schlichenmayer said.
“So we're not a small town anymore, we're fair game. It's really important to work together.”
She said armed robberies have happened in the area before but, “it hasn't happened for quite a while in here so we've – as businesses, we've kind of gotten complacent about it.”
