By rdnewsNOW staff

pilot project nets positive results

Lacombe County eyeing automatic gates as crime reduction measure

Feb 19, 2020 | 10:17 AM

Lacombe County is expanding on a pilot project officials say was effective in cutting down on rural crime.

The two-year pilot saw automatic gates installed at the entrance to Westside Country Estates, west of Sylvan Lake, and monitored to see whether they made a difference on crime and trespassing in the area.

County Manager Tim Timmons says they saw noticeable results.

“They were required to leave the gates open during daylight hours, which would allow the county to conduct its operational activities in the subdivision. Then they were allowed to close the gates in the evening and they noticed that there was very little crime in their subdivision. Furthermore, we didn’t experience any operational issues from the county’s perspective,” Timmons noted.

“Anything Lacombe County can do to reduce the impact of rural crime in our municipalities I think we would be very supportive of, including this initiative,” he added.

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County council has given administration the go ahead to do more research on gated communities and develop a policy to apply to subdivisions throughout the county.

Councillor Ken Wigmore supports the project now, but admits he did have a few questions when it was first debated two years ago.

“Mainly because of the fact that ‘how does emergency vehicles get in there?’ and ‘how does the county get in to plow the snow?,” he recalled. “They have worked very well with the county. I think it’s quite positive and going forward I think we’ll see more gated communities.”

Wigmore, who is president of Red Deer/Lacombe Rural Community Crime Watch, says ideas such as this are important as tackling rural crime still has a long way to go.

“Our oil companies around are really frustrated with the amount of theft that’s going on at their sites. I’m starting to get calls of people getting their fuel stolen, getting their places robbed, and their vehicles taken. It just seems to be on the upswing,” he laments.