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RCMP Supt. Foster tells business owners “get to know your neighbour”

May 24, 2017 | 7:07 PM

Red Deer’s top cop presented to local business owners at Wednesday’s Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Supt. Ken Foster told those in attendance that one of the most important things for businesses to do is treat the neighbourhood like you would where you live.

“Get to know who your business neighbours and partners are, understand what their business is, and look out for one another for sure. I know when we go around or I drive around the city, I see lots of places that if we followed some crime prevention though environmental design aspects, it would certainly deter [more] crime,” he says.

“For example, I was at a business not long ago and I saw a number of pallets stacked up outside the fence, which looked like a perfect step right over top the fence.”

Foster also highly recommends maintaining a ‘robust’ inventory system and to not hesitate to call RCMP when the need arises.

Asked about the voluntary camera registry, Foster explained, “We’ve made it one of our initiatives with our strategic priorities. It’s very much in its infancy stage.”

As well, Foster touched on the high rate of stolen vehicles in the city, noting about half them are preventable.

However, it’s not all bad news on the crime front.

“Theft of vehicles and break and enters both went down for the month of March. I would have to look a long way back to find out when those both decreased in the same month,” he said. “I’m absolutely convinced it’s a product of the direction we’ve been going around [Project] Pinpoint and targeting the criminals, the places, the types of crimes, and being more strategic in how we do warrant checks and curfew checks.”

He was sure to add that one month doesn’t tell the entire story.

“The opportunity for the public and the police to interact like this, and understand a little more what policing is about, what the challenges are, but also to hear feedback from the community, that’s of utmost importance when it comes to policing.”

In response to a question about his thoughts on safe injection sites opening up in Red Deer, Foster said that’s a question he wrestles with.

“I haven’t drawn an opinion firmly where I sit on it. It’s a moving target for me. We have to have some methods to help folks and [ask] where does it boil over into being enabling? From a copper’s position, we’re typically pretty far to the right and we’re not as kind and gentle as some of the other agencies,” he openly admitted. “We’ve become more understanding that simply charging and jailing people isn’t always the answer. It’s a pretty wishy washy answer, but in some cases, a little tough love doesn’t hurt and if you commit the crime, well crime is crime and you’re going to go to jail if I have my way.”