Dear Editor,
I was quite shocked to see how an RCMP member chose to respond to my July 9 letter to the Ponoka News about the policing effort and other issues in the town. It is rather disturbing, and way over the top, for an RCMP member, who was at a town council meeting to provide an update on policing to town council, to feel free to undermine a resident taxpayer in a public arena. It is yet another display of bullying and arrogance that seems to go along with the litany of excuses being offered all the time about why the policing is not more effective in the town.
Firstly: The RCMP know nothing of my background that would allow them to make a statement in a public meeting about my abilities to recognize and manage workloads. What I will say is that I have managed a group of people roughly three times the existing staff level of the RCMP in Ponoka, so I don’t need any lectures about understanding and managing workload issues.
Secondly: The commentary to council also decided to drag prisoner count into the discussion for probably no reason, other than to confuse the real math numbers on the difference between Lacombe and Ponoka policing. On the issue of prisoner count, I agree it is an apples and oranges comparison but for different reasons than they seem to want to convey. Perhaps they should have mentioned that Lacombe city police do not have a significant number of officers from an integrated Sheriff and RCMP highway patrol group embedded within their city police force. Since the Ponoka detachment does, it is natural that Ponoka would have a higher prisoner count given the higher number of police officers and jurisdiction area.
Thirdly: It is not my job to do an analysis of the Ponoka policing business. That is the job for the detachment and K division to determine and like all managers they need to be judged accordingly on results/outcomes. I have no idea what objectives have been established with RCMP “K” division in Edmonton for policing of the town, since this does seem to be shared with the town. I can only judge policing performance based on what I see within the town against my own expectations as one of the taxpayers who are paying for a dedicated number of police officers. I, like many others, am not interested in vague platitudes or excuses, just some positive results.
Sharing information on solved vandalism, and property theft as well as traffic citations within the town might help people gain some insight as to results.
Lastly, contrary to the apparent belief of some folks, ordinary people can actually distinguish the difference between a noisy vehicle and one that is speeding. It is an acquired skill set.
I am encouraged that the RCMP are working on speeding issues in problem areas of town, so I remain hopeful that I will see police cruisers on our streets that are not just heading for highway 2A or the Busy Lizzie.
Wes Jacobson