The warmer months saw more MD of Bonnyville residents taking advantage of the rural crime prevention program.
During MD of Bonnyville council’s regular meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 23, director of public safety Chris Garner gave an update on how the second and third quarter measured up when it came to the amount of tickets and warnings MD peace officers issued, as well as the rural crime prevention program.
When comparing the number of vacant home checks to the previous quarter, they jumped from 292 to 456.
The Moose Lake east subdivision had the most checks done with 118, followed by the vicinity around Ardmore at 96, and the Baywood area with 72.
Crime prevention patrols also rose to 877, from 442 last quarter.
Ward 2, which includes Vezeau Beach and the Moose Lake subdivision, had the most at 174. The second highest was in Ward 5, that encompasses Ardmore and Crane Lake, with 172. Ward 6 had 126 conducted in areas such as Cherry Grove and the Cold Lake Regional Airport.
Another area peace officers saw an upswing was the number of provincial-written warnings from 285 to 363. Offences, such as speeding, saw the number of provincial tickets rise slightly from 298 to 333.
Bylaw tickets dropped by three to 17, and warnings increased significantly from one to 18.
Due to the time of the year, Garner noted unsightly property notices saw a jump to 17.
“It would be normal for summertime, keep in mind it’s July and August when we see the bulk of those complaints.”
Speeding continues to be a problem throughout the municipality. Peace officers issued tickets or written warnings for the offence 190 times in Ward 1, and Ward 3, which surrounds the Glendon-area, had 108 handed out. Ward 6 had 99, Ward 4, encompassing Iron River and La Corey, saw 67, and Ward 5 had 57. Ward 2 had the least, with 35 speeding tickets or warnings distributed.
When peace officers received calls from the public requesting service or regarding a complaint, the number of case report summaries for crime prevention jumped from 26 to 53.
Written warnings for commercial vehicle violations went from 39 to 58 in the third quarter, and tickets in this category jumped from six to 15.
School resource officers have been hard at work since the new school year started. In September alone, they ran six life choice programs and had 35 sessions booked. Power Within Me, which will focus on helping at-risk youth, and the Saddle Up initiative are two new pilot programs school resource officers are spearheading. The Saddle Up program will see peace officers working with school councilors to better assist students.
The Heavy Users of Service (HUoS) caught council’s attention. The Edmonton-based program has expanded to rural communities. Its objective is to improve the lives of the most frequent users of the social, medical, criminal, and justice services to bridge the gaps in provision and treatment.
The MD will be bringing HUoS to the area, and is currently reaching out to local facilities.
“We’ve got examples from other places, but we’re sort of unique because we’re a rural area and sometimes it involves other issues such as travel, resources, and things like that, which we wouldn’t have at our fingertips here to get a larger perimeter,” Garner detailed.
Although Coun. Ben Fadeyiw had issues with the program after hearing negative feedback, Coun. Dana Swigart was in favour of it.
“I think it’s a good initiative because if you have 22 operations, if they’re all independent, then they’re not working together… They’ve tried this in other communities, and it’s working. You group all these services together, they tackle that small group of criminals, and they try to work with them to get them out of this crime cycle. Maybe get them housing, or whatever they need to do to help them,” Swigart expressed.
Garner noted the few meetings the MD has facilitated with local organizations so far were well attended.
“They’re all doing their own little things… for the individuals that really need the help, but it’s not the right things and our residents are paying for it, because these are the people that are committing our crimes,” he stated. “If we can mitigate that by trying to get our agencies working more collaboratively, that’s probably going to be a benefit in the long run for us.”
