City policing priorities achievable, says Red Deer’s top cop

“These objectives are very achievable. It’s a challenge right now because with COVID, we don’t know how much of an influence it’s having one way or the other,” said Red Deer RCMP Superintendent Gerald Grobmeier.

“This year will be challenging to determine how valid our numbers are, but we look at crime trends as a five-year picture to tell us where we’re going, and we’ve seen significant trending downward. These priorities aren’t easy, but that is why we set them.”

The policing priorities were in part crafted based on the feedback from the “Better Together” community safety sessions held last November, and a telephone survey conducted in February.

When asked about a recent call by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) to decriminalize possession of certain drugs for personal use, Grobmeier said Red Deer RCMP will continue to put more emphasis on those who traffic drugs as opposed to those using them.

“Our focus is with those drug dealers who are taking advantage of others,” the superintendent says. “Right now, it is the law; you cannot be in possession of heroin, crack or fentanyl, so you can be charged if you’re found in possession, and we will enforce it as such. But all our members have discretion on whether to lay a charge or not. Sometimes it’s the only tool we have and it’s a tool that can also be used to help them.”

Police continue to be frustrated by the “revolving door” justice system and repeatedly arresting the same offenders, Grobmeier says, adding that there comes a point when it must be realized that some people won’t ever accept help.

“It’s also frustrating for the public and everyone in the judicial system to see people reoffending. It’s a capacity issue. Look at our neighbours to the south, they put a lot of people in jail and their crime is still significantly worse than ours,” says Grobmeier. “It’s about finding a balance between people who need to go to jail, but also what happens when they come out of jail, and not just abandoning them so they have no choice but to get back into their criminal ways.”

Data from The City of Red Deer and Red Deer RCMP shows the detachment achieved all of its 2018-22 objectives. That includes increasing drug trafficking-related charges by five per cent, and reducing property crime by three per cent in both 18/19 and 19/20.

When it comes to the downtown area, RCMP achieved its targets of reducing calls for service to the area by three percent each year, and reducing property crimes by three per cent each year. They also strived to increase citizens’ feeling of safety downtown from 16 to 19 per cent in 18/19 and to 23 per cent in 19/20.

Mayor Tara Veer says positive results have begun to roll in the last couple years since first establishing local priorities for RCMP several years ago.

“The headway alone that we will make once we see the treatment court, residential treatment, the new justice centre and the shelter will be transformative for our community and resolve many systemic issues Red Deer has been faced with for over a decade,” she said.

Veer also noted The City’s economic development strategies, rezoning, revitalization efforts of particular areas, and a shift from reactive to proactive policing as means to an end.

“It’s taken time to see progress, but we will continue [to do this work] until we do.”

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

City policing priorities achievable, says Red Deer’s top cop

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