Drumheller RCMP will focus on habitual offenders and reducing property crime and theft, Staff Sergeant Edmond Bourque told people at a town hall on Thursday.
About a dozen people attended the meeting at the Badlands Community Facility June 20 to hear from SSgt Borque, the newly acting leader of the Drumheller RCMP detachment. It was the first time he has spoken publicly in Drumheller but said he hopes to have regular meetings with the public, suggesting something like “Mocha with Mounties.”
“We want to keep it personal so people feel that relationship with us,” he said.
He areas of policing focus for 2019: nabbing habitual offenders who account for the majority of property crime and theft, reducing property crime through general investigation and by using crime reduction units, and addressing the root causes of crime in the community. He said increasing police visibility, combating drugs, property crime, and break and enters, and being proactive to reduce crime will be
“99 per cent of crime is related to drugs like methamphetamine, fentanyl,” he said, while also highlighting strong communication from the public when they see suspicious activity or potential crimes happen.
He said bait cars have been used infrequently in Drumheller as the cars, high-end, attractive vehicles outfitted with cameras and alarms which trigger whenever there is forced entry. There are plainclothes members in the detachment who work surveillance and other undercover operations.
