Hot on the heels of some recent crimes in the area, prevention and education were big topics at an area rural crime watch meeting.
Members and the executive of the Battle River Rural Crime Watch (BRRCW) committee — which encompasses Ponoka County east of Secondary Highway 821 as well as portions of the counties of Lacombe and Camrose — held its regular meeting at the Bashaw Library Nov. 9.
Much of the meeting’s focus was on ways to educate the public on how Rural Crime Watch can help as a deterrent, and in prevention. There was also a suggestion to lobby provincial and federal politicians for assistance in these efforts.
Devin Bonnar, BRRCW president, and many of the members present felt it best to invite these politicians to the group’s annual meeting in April as opposed to a petition or letter campaign.
“I believe a good show of support and showing how engaged the group is would have more of an affect,” he said.
One reason for the lobby effort would be to assist the provincial body, Alberta Provincial Rural Crime Watch (APRCW), as it works to to produce a recruitment, training and educational video in conjunction with the RCMP.
Bonner stated the idea would be to see more funding come to APRCW for this type of education and promotional material plus to assist in development of further technology like a notification app for RCWs.
The video, which is being produced by Bashaw’s Ben Wilson, began filming earlier this year and is expected to continue with indoor shoots this winter.
Notifications
Questions about why some recent criminal activity was not updated through the BRRCW social media accounts were answered by both Bashaw RCMP Sgt. Bruce Holliday and Camrose RCMP Cst. Trent Kenyon.
Holliday explained Camrose RCMP’s current practice of sending out a weekly release of what’s occurred is the “best practice” that his detachment will soon be implementing and cautioned those at the meeting about wanting to get out information that may not be completely accurate just to put it out there quickly.
Kenyon added, “If there is a need for the public to know or there is a risk to public safety, you can be assured there will be a release made immediately. Sometimes you just need to trust that there is a reason why the RCMP have not sent out any information.
Bonnar further stated the BRRCW needs to keep the information it sends as accurate as possible, considering it is a conduit for the RCMP, and that there is always going to be other outlets supplying information on breaking events.
Education work
Some property crime in the Donalda area has spurred membership in that area, although there is now a need for a meeting to be held to help stem some anger and the potential of people taking things into their own hands.
With more than 30 people in the area signed up, it was felt a meeting to discuss how the BRRCW operates and to educate people regarding prevention and what cannot be done. That meeting was scheduled for Nov. 23 at the Donalda Community Hall at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, Holliday stated he has been in touch with Stettler RCMP, who he stated are willing to be a participant at the meeting.