A Reel Destination short documentary discussing the locations of the film Let Him Go has been released.

Last spring and summer the valley was star struck with major motion pictures filming in the valley. Last week the trailer for one of these productions was released.
In April, Let him Go, a feature film starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane was shot in the valley. Scenes were shot throughout the valley including the historic Graham Ranch near East Coulee as well as downtown Drumheller. Downtown’s streetscapes were transformed to look like small-town USA in the 1960s, with even some local cars making the cut. Riverside Value Drug Mart was featured, transformed into the Red Owl Food Store.

Recentley the trailer for the film was released, and many of the locations in Drumheller were featured prominently.
Let Him Go is the story of a retired sheriff and his wife travelling across the USA to rescue their grandson from a dangerous family.
Let Him Go is scheduled to be released in November. Last summer also saw the filming of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It was slate to be released on July 10 of this year, however, it has been rescheduled for June 2021. The CBC drama Fortunate Son also shot in Drumheller last year and it aired on CBC television and its streaming service, premiering January 8, 2020.

While rural crime continues to be forefront in the news, it appears some numbers might be trending down in the Drumheller area.

In comparing the second quarter of 2020 to previous years, there appears to be a drop in incidents in the Drumheller municipal detachment as well as in the rural area.

In the Drumheller detachment crimes against a person, such as assaults and threats saw a 13 per cent drop compared to second quarters from 2016 – 2020 and a 22 per cent drop over 2019. Similarly, in the rural area, there was a drop of 46 per cent when compared to all years and a 37 per cent drop, compared to 2019.

Similarly, property offenses dropped by 44 per cent in the Drumheller detachment compared to 2019 and 31 per cent in the rural area.

While property offenses are trending down, it appears suspicious persons reports are going up locally and rurally.

Staff Sargeant Ed Bourque says there are a number of reasons to see these kinds of drops, and notes because Drumheller is a relatively small detachment, a large swing percentage-wise might mean a change of just a few incidents.

Another reason might be COVID -19 leading to less criminal activity.

He adds that often some crimes go unreported such as theft under $5,000 which might affect the official statistics and notes it is important for residents to report any crime no matter how small.

Drug activity appears to also be falling. The municipal detachment saw a drop of 38 per cent over the second quarter of 2019.

He says in a community the size of Drumheller, the simple arrest and incarceration of a habitual offender can make big differences in some categories.

“Most of this is driven by the drug sector and when certain individuals are in jail, then they are not going after other people for debts and causing others to go out and commit break and enters and thefts,” said Bourque.

He also gives credit to the Drumheller detachment’s operation officers who work diligently to making sure accused and offenders are adhering to court conditions such as curfew.

“Maybe they will think twice about going out and doing crime all night … chances are they may not get caught, but they may be caught by being not at home and being breached,” said Bourgue. “I believe it is a big impact they are making locally.”

Bourque says a part of the Drumheller detachment’s success is the Crime Reduction Unit in Drumheller. Crime Reduction Units were introduced a few years ago and these work to generate intelligence locally and also share it across the province. The Drumheller Crime reduction Unit has been running for about a year. This helps track travelling criminals, as well as identify trends, such as thefts from industrial sites. The detachment can allocate resources to make an impact in these areas, including plainclothes work as well as uniformed officers.