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Rural crime settling in the MD

Rural crime is holding steady, if not decreasing, say Foothills area RCMP. At a rural crime meeting at the Square Butte Community Hall on Nov. 8, Turner Valley RCMP Sgt.
MD Manhunt
The MD of Foothills launched its Enhanced Policing Program on Oct. 1, which is designed to help reduce rural crime with an increased RCMP presence in rural areas.

Rural crime is holding steady, if not decreasing, say Foothills area RCMP. At a rural crime meeting at the Square Butte Community Hall on Nov. 8, Turner Valley RCMP Sgt. Dwayne Helgeson told attendees many of the problems with break-and-enters on rural properties are waning. “My feeling is things are getting better,” said Helgeson. “We have turned a corner and it’s for multiple reasons – some of our bad guys are in jail, we’re getting better at tracking them, we’ve had a little bit of different resources channel in through the rural crime watch, and we had a big increase in suspicious person calls.” He said not every call leads to an arrest, but they’re still important for people to make. In fact, about 90 per cent of suspicious activity calls end up being a neighbour with a new car or a birdwatcher, or other innocent parties, he said. But the 10 per cent who are actually up to no good are worth taking and investigating all of the calls, he said. “We don’t mind when you call us about suspicious vehicles,” said Helgeson. “That’s a good thing.” He said this fall has seen a lot less criminal activity, specifically in the Millarville and Priddis area, than 2017. Last year there were sometimes three or four calls per day, he said. “This year we haven’t seen anything like that, and fingers crossed it stays like this,” said Helgeson. He said most of the activity is still crimes of opportunity, where people are driving through the area looking for properties that are unlocked or where nobody is visibly home. Even locking the gate a certain way can be a telltale sign for criminals, he said. “They’re looking for no tire tracks in the driveway, locks on the outside of the gate,” said Helgeson. “Little things like that, you don’t know it but you’re letting them know you’re not there.” An increased RCMP presence in the MD may make a difference in rural crime rates as well, he said. As of Oct. 1, the MD of Foothills launched its three-month Enhanced Policing Program pilot. The project has extra RCMP hours on rural roads, paid for by the municipality, and aimed specifically at MD issues. “Not only is there an increased presence, also this presence we’re able to use that any way we actually want that to be,” said MD Coun. Jason Parker. He said the MD’s goal is to reduce crime in the area and having an increased RCMP presence can help achieve it, rather than always sharing resources with towns like Okotoks, High River, Turner Valley and Black Diamond. “That’s where I think we can see a real improvement and I think that’s why it’s going to be a really successful program,” said Parker. Helgeson said the RCMP have been tasked with two major priorities for its enhanced policing members – visibility and crime reduction. Officers will still conduct traffic stops and other routine police work out in the MD, he said. Though many traffic stops will be more about learning who belongs in the community and the goings-on of MD areas, he said things like distracted driving will always result in a ticket. Any revenue gathered from the Enhanced Policing Program go straight back into the project, helping it to become self-sustaining, he said. It’s not just about making money though, and officers won’t have any quota, he said. But traffic is a great way to find criminals, he said. “Our criminals out here drive around – they don’t walk out here, they drive, and every one of them has a vehicle, often stolen,” said Helgeson. “So traffic is an easy first-off indicator for us. “That’s been somewhat successful in finding some of our criminals travelling. Traffic stops in a rural area are a really easy way to interact with the public.”

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