You may have noticed Drumheller’s RCMP patrolling around Drumheller on bikes during Canada Day. 

Drumheller RCMP introduced the bikes to increase surveillance of the valley. 

RCMP members must complete a five day course from the Law Enforcement Bicycle Association (LEBA) to learn the skills to safely bike while policing. 

“Most people learn how to ride a bike when they are a child. So the police bike course expands on what we already know with a bike. We learn how to interact with the public on the bike, how to react when someone is trying to attack us when on the bike and how to ride slowly through crowds. Also how to repair the bike when we are alone,” says Constable Craig Nelson. 

The course also teaches members what precautions to take while riding. 

“When we are biking we wear helmets for safety, but the strap usually goes around the face. We don’t want someone to grab a hold of that. These are precautions and tactics to mitigate risks to make sure we are not injured when in an altercation with somebody.”

Constable Nelson told The Mail that people usually are not looking for police officers on bikes, and this gives them the advantage of surprise. 

“Every once in  a while we have a rash of people stealing from cars. They go around and see if cars are unlocked and steal things from inside them. It is very hard to catch that type of criminal because if they see or hear any kind of car coming, they will quickly put their hands in their pockets and continue walking down the street. If we are able to bike up, and surprise them, then maybe we will be able to see something that they shouldn’t be doing or catch them in the act of committing the crime and make an arrest.”

The RCMP have also used the bikes to interact with the public more. 

“When we are in a police car, it is harder to talk to the public. When we are on a bike we are biking past them, waving at them, talking to them. We get off the bike at the skatepark and talk to some kids, it’s a really effective way of doing patrols and increasing our visibility in the community, as well as interacting with them.” 

The Drumheller RCMP will be increasing their bike patrols for the remainder of the summer.  

When Hussar School closed its doors for the last time at the end of June, the Hussar Municipal Library marked the end of a chapter, and the small community is temporarily without most library services.

The consolidation of Hussar School into the new Wheatland Crossing School has left the Hussar library without a home.

“The library board didn’t feel that sustaining a library in a school that’s not being occupied and needs repair would be a financially viable option,” said Marigold Library Services CEO Michelle Toombs. 

“We can’t afford a facility,” said board member Kathy Dundas. “And there isn’t a space available to use right now.”

Golden Hills School Division had offered sale of the building to both the Village of Hussar and the community and both declined to purchase the building due to overhead costs and maintenance, said library board member Wendy Kaiser. 

The building will likely be put up for sale by the school division, but if there are no buyers, it may be demolished. 

Kaiser said there has been discussion with the local ag society about potentially adding onto the Hussar arena a smaller library, reading rooms, and village office space.

In the meantime, Dundas said the library will continue to offer the summer reading program until fall but the fate of future library services is still uncertain as the board discusses options, such as continuing to facilitate memberships for the community, maintaining a best-seller rotunda at some location in Hussar, and even the possibility of purchasing a “smart locker” storage unit, which would have members scan their membership cards in order to gain access to books they’ve requested for delivery. 

“It would really be a neat concept that I know would work here,” said Dundas. “But it’s up in the air right now.”

Marigold recently launched a locker in Airdrie and has been looking at the possibility of opening more in other communities, said Marigold CEO Toombs.

Members can continue to order books for mail delivery, access Marigold’s ebook library and online services, and can still access services from nearby Marigold libraries such as in Drumheller. 

But the closure of Hussar’s library is still a loss for the community says Dundas.

“Our library had a very strong membership and was used quite extensively. It was busy. We had after school programming, quite often people would use the public access computers for going online and printing.”

Municipalities are responsible for their library services, required to provide the location, staffing, programs, front-line service, and operated by an autonomous board. Library funding comes through council allocations and provincial funding, as well as local fundraisers. 

Marigold provides these libraries with services such as IT and technical support, catalogue services, professional consultation, deliveries, and purchases materials for placement in the circulation catalogue. Marigold also gives some money back into local libraries to allow resource sharing between member libraries throughout the province.

The library’s book collection has not been disposed of yet, but the board said they likely will be in the future.