Rural crime continues to frustrate residents as reports of crimes like property theft and attempted break and enters are regularly reported by police and on social media.
“All over the southern part of the province rural crime is a hot topic,” says Hanna RCMP Constable Braden Marlow. “It has increased as people are going out and taking advantage of the rural areas.”
Drumheller RCMP Staff Sergeant Kevin Charles says while he is not seeing abnormal trends in crime in the region, he says a lot of the crimes taking place are those of opportunity.
“People are still leaving their vehicles unlocked and running. Gone are the times that you can do that,” he says, adding the best way to prevent being a victim is to secure your property.
“Perhaps because it’s recorded more and analyzed more now because rural crime is a hot topic, but it’s not like it’s running rampant,” he said.
S/Sgt. Charles says while individuals from urban-centres like Calgary are committing offences in this jurisdiction, there are certainly criminals who call Drumheller home.
“I think there is a core group of people who are responsible. It’s fueled by wanting stolen property and that could be for drugs or for a source of income. We have a couple in Drumheller who we are keeping tabs on but there are also criminals from other jurisdictions who steal a vehicle and commit offences throughout the rural area – it makes things difficult,” he said.
Rural crime poses particular challenges to RCMP members compared to city crimes. Small towns and villages can be 20 to 30 minutes away from the nearest detachment, giving criminals plenty of getaway time before police can respond. There is also less security and surveillance on rural properties and residents out in the country may not be as likely to secure their property.
The NDP government earlier this year pledged $10-million to the RCMP to fund up to 39 new RCMP officers and around 40 civilians in response to concerns raised by rural Albertans about crime rates in their community.
The United Conservative Party recently released a report on rural crime and strategies to combat it based on consultations with rural residents and organizations. The report suggests crime has increased 250 per cent in some communities and identifies police response time, court delays, and repeat offenders as some of the causes. Some recommendations include streamlining the court system and creating stronger communication between detachments and rural crime watches to increase intelligence capabilities of the RCMP.
Drumheller-Stettler UCP MLA Rick Strankman says he hears ‘frustration’ from his constituents regarding crime in their communities.
“They’re compassionate to police but it seems there is a lot of frustration in regards to our legal system. There’s a lot of congestion, and in many cases, there is a lack of, should I say, justice,” Strankman says, people often view sentences handed down to criminals as unproportional and inadequate to the crime.
S/Sgt. Charles says the detachment has been using the tools at its disposal to combat crime here. They have talked about acquiring a bait car to catch car thieves, and are using intelligence-led policing to help catch regular offenders.
“We have some other programs available as well, things I can’t get into, but we’re working at it. It’s one criminal at a time here,” he says.
