Justice Minister brings rural crime tour to Rocky

“As I hear these stories then I go to Edmonton, often my last thought is, is this the night it happens to my wife and kids, it’s a real worry,” added Nixon, who later explained the difficulties he went through under an NDP government trying to explain the struggles rural communities were going through.

“It was tough to punch through and articulate what was really happening. We would tell the stories of what was happening and at first nobody would listen to us, it took us a very long time.”

Nixon explained that the current UCP government is listening to what people are saying.

Schweitzer told the crowd why he was focusing on rural crime so heavily, even while stats are showing crime rates are going down.

“It became abundantly clear to me that our justice system has broken down, because when I talked to people they told me that they were no longer calling the police. Albertans are so frustrated that they have no faith in the justice system,” Schweitzer shared. “Our laws are written for downtown Toronto, not for rural communities.”

Schweitzer said he understands that’s it’s difficult to get that faith back, but now more than ever he needs people to start reporting everything, so that he can show Ottawa that this is what it’s really like.

Thursday’s town hall meeting was the first since the UCP unveiled their new plan to combat rural crime such as the new RAPID Force, strengthening property owners and cracking down on metal theft. Those in attendance voiced their full support for the plan.

A common complaint brought up during the question and answer portion of Thursday’s meeting was how long it takes for RCMP to respond to rural calls, and that often times giving the land description to a rural home wasn’t good enough and police couldn’t find the residents.

The RCMP detachment in Rocky Mountain House has a full complement of 30 officers who cover 622 square kilometres per officer. By comparison, the Calgary Police Service has more than two officers per square kilometre.

Another big button issue was frustration with the RCMP not giving each call and police report the attention people believed it should receive.

Schweitzer commented that he understands the frustration and could reassure that the police felt it as well, because it’s not that they want to cut people short, they just have so much to do with so few people.

Calkins said having more police is good, but would mean nothing if we don’t have the prosecutors to put criminals away. Schweitzer reassured everyone that they were working on that as well, with funding for 50new prosecutors included in the new provincial budget.

Many of the changes residents were asking for would not be possible on a provincial level, Schweitzer mentioned.

Calkins said that as an MP the best way to get your point across was to email and mail the Prime Minister, which many in the crowd scoffed at, saying that it’s easy to ignore.

He agreed that yes, one or two are easily ignored, but one or two thousand people can get a point across.

by Adam Ophus

Justice Minister brings rural crime tour to Rocky

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