The MD of Bonnyville is hoping to engage its residents to join the fight against rural crime.
The idea of starting a ‘Citizens on Patrol' or ‘Rural Crime Watch' group was discussed at the Oct. 12 council meeting.
Director of Public Safety Chris Garner explained that the Citizens on Patrol group would involve members being actively out in the community looking for suspicious activity, while Rural Crime Watch would be a group who calls in suspicious activity if they see it happening.
When asked which method the public safety department recommends, Garner explained it depends on what the community prefers.
“Do they want to be driving around on their own roads looking for suspicious people? Or do they want the Rural Crime Watch which is more of a passive thing where people are aware of crime prevention and are aware of there community and call things in, but they aren't actively out there.”
Garner added that whichever option is decided on will need to be run collaboratively by the community and police to make it a successful program.
“It needs to be community driven, the need for it needs to be confirmed by the local police, the police then assign a liaison to the group and the group establishes itself as a society and becomes under the provincial Citizens on Patrol umbrella. It needs to have bylaws and policies and they are approved by the local police,” said Garner.
A police liaison would work with both groups, regardless of which one is picked.
“A police liaison, with the group, develops the rules for the patrolling and they have to be insured and they have to develop an operational manual.”
Garner stated that the public safety sector is available as a resource, but if the community decides to take part in one of these groups then they need to show some interest.
“I think on both of these things we need to have people from the community actually step it up to start getting the ball rolling.”
“Both indicate that they start off with a community that has decided to start doing this, they have to have a board and those types of things so there needs to be some resident involvement and there has to be a push for this type of thing.”
Garner continued to state that they need full dedication from the community to go forward with one of these programs.
“Instead of it being people who just want to come to a meeting, it has to be people who take the step and work with the provincial organizations to set up a local group.”
Council agreed they need to get the community's thoughts on the idea before they go any further with discussions.
“If there's an interest we can go to both RCMP's and get it going, but if there is no interest then we drop it,” said Coun. Barry Kalinski.
The MD is asking those who are interested to contact the public safety department at 780-812-3332 or via email at [email protected].
