By Sheldon Spackman

Crime Symposium

Crime watch groups gathering for provincial symposium in Grande Prairie

Feb 19, 2020 | 11:25 AM

Better communication is what the president of Red Deer/Lacombe Rural Community Crime Watch would like to see from his organization’s provincial body moving forward.

With the Alberta Provincial Rural Crime Watch Association (APRCWA) set to host its 2020 symposium in Grande Prairie this Friday and Saturday, Ken Wigmore says he plans to encourage them to be more in touch with its regional counterparts across the province.

“We seem to have a real communication problem with getting the word out amongst everybody,” he explains. “The other (thing) is to see what we can do in pushing forward with our governments to do something with all this crime that’s going on.”

Locally, Wigmore feels the Red Deer/Lacombe Rural Community Crime Watch is growing its awareness among residents and the role that it plays, a trend he hopes to continue building on.

“We’re getting people to pay a little more attention to our fan-outs, and I’m getting people thanking us for what we do,” says Wigmore. “So I like to think we are making some strides in informing the people as to what they can do and how they can arm themselves and to be vigilant and watch out for their neighbours.”

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Regardless, Wigmore admits there’s still a tremendous amount of work ahead to combat the growing concern around rural crime.

“Red Deer/Lacombe has pushed to get the police involved and we do have a few of the police detachments on our fan-outs, so they’re receiving our fan-outs and reading them,” he explains. “I think that’s a whole lot quicker than going the long route, sending it to the RCMP in Edmonton.”

Wigmore adds, however, that residents definitely need to phone the RCMP if a crime has taken place or if they spot suspicious activity, no matter how big or small the matter might seem.

“The RCMP are very good at checking it out, we do have more officers in the areas and they are becoming much more vigilant.”

Dean Hart of Red Deer, a director with the APRCWA, says the symposium is a chance for the organization’s different chapters to network and learn more about their unique ways of tackling the issues.

“Some associations are doing some sort of group texting applications to reach around their communities, so it’s kind of along the neighbourhood watch principle,” says Hart. “The second side is the target hardening side of the picture, which is making your properties less desireable to criminals. Stuff like lighting, making your yard visible, opening up lines of site, security cameras, alarm systems, stuff like that.”

Hart feels most areas of the province are dealing with the same issues.

“Motor vehicle theft is high,” says Hart. “They steal vehicles in order to perpetrate these crimes. Vehicle thefts and break and enters I think are probably two of the biggest ones.”

Hart says the APRCWA hopes to roll out a series of videos this year, outlining the importance of reporting crime and suspicious activity to law enforcement agencies and how police use the information to identify so called “hot spots”.

“We’re hoping to get that word out amongst those associations, have those discussions, and just kind of help in any way that we can in reducing the crime in rural areas,” he exclaims. “I encourage everybody both urban and rural to get involved in their communities, learn what’s going on around their communities, learn who belongs and who doesn’t and report that to the RCMP.”

“Make the province uncomfortable for criminals to live and conduct their activities, adds Hart. “If we can do that, we can reduce the crime in the province.”

For more information, visit ruralcrimewatch.ab.ca