Break-in victim challenges mayor, starting petition for municipal force

She and her son came to Red Deer about nine years ago at a time when she says one didn’t have to look over their shoulder while out at night in fear of getting mugged.

“I don’t feel that there’s enough energy towards this,” she tells rdnewsNOW. “We’re going to be starting a petition to try to get a Red Deer municipal force instead of just the RCMP. We need a force just for Red Deer, just like Calgary has.”

Engel says that petition will begin circulation on Sept. 8 during a community BBQ being held at the salon.

Mayor Veer says she’s seen Engel’s video which has over 110 shares and 12,000 views.

Veer says because there is an ongoing investigation into the break-in which occurred there Aug. 22, she can’t respond directly to Engel’s message or anything in the video.

However, she does insist that Red Deer city council and The City are working on a number of initiatives to reduce the overall crime rate.

“Crime and public safety continue to be the number one priority of our public and with certainty I can say it is the number one priority of Red Deer city council, out of concern for public safety and in response to what we’re hearing from our citizens,” she says.

“We are undertaking a governance review in terms of who and how our local police services are delivered. We’re also doing a service review to make sure we are effectively using the resources that are allocated.”

Last January, council approved funding to the tune of $1.53 million for ten additional members. It was announced in June that six of those would be used to double the Crime Reduction unit, which is focused on property crime and prolific offenders. The other four will form a new downtown unit which will get to know business owners and social agencies on a more personal level.

A Red Deer RCMP spokesperson confirms that to date, just one of those ten officers have been hired, but notes they only got the go-ahead to begin hiring in June.

The spokesperson also tells rdnewsNOW that there are approximately 30 officers on the road throughout the city at any one time. That figure is comprised of 12-15 members on general duty, and others from the police dog unit, traffic services, the police and crisis team, domestic violence, community policing and GIS.

“The only emotion I’ve really experienced since the break-in is that I have been failed by our current city council. I’ve had a few clients and non-clients actually come to me and ask what I was going to do about the crime,” says Engels incredulously. “I have nothing to do with that or with city council, but maybe I should.”

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Break-in victim challenges mayor, starting petition for municipal force

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