By Sheldon Spackman

Rural crime the focus of Lacombe symposium

Feb 17, 2018 | 2:29 PM

Rural crime prevention was the focus of a forum held at the Lacombe Memorial Centre this weekend.

It began Friday night and continued Saturday with over 175 people in attendance and representation from numerous municipalities and stakeholder groups throughout the region.

The Red Deer / Lacombe Rural Crime Watch AGM and Symposium was hosted by the Alberta Provincial Crime Watch Association and also includes a trade show, guest speaker, workshops and entertainment from Danny Hooper to wrap it all up.

It follows closely on the heels of the Alberta Provincial Rural Crime Watch Association signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Alberta RCMP on February 15 to outline the roles of each organization in keeping rural communities safe throughout the province. An extra set of eyes and ears for the RCMP if you will and promoting crime prevention through awareness and education campaigns.

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The symposium’s Guest Speaker was Scott McKean, Manager, Community Safety and Well Being for the City of Toronto. Recently attending a three-day workshop on crime prevention in Edmonton, McKean brought to Lacombe the message of the importance of sharing information and intervention methods available at multiple levels in the community.

“The most important one is connecting with residents and resident leaders, young people in our communities to sort of identify what’s going on,” says McKean. “What are the issues, what are the opportunities and what steps we can do without even worrying about resources to come together and address those things.”

In terms of the systems that support us, McKean says it’s important to recognize what services we have and how do we look together.

“When it comes to crime prevention, people are often worried about policing and it always goes back to the crime but the community safety and well-being aspect is all about the social determinants of health, how poverty, addictions and mental health and all these other things manifest into crime,” explains McKean. “By having integrated approaches, we can deal with those and I think lastly, at a systems level, you know, politicians and leadership, you really need to make sure that systems are coordinated. Invest upstream and prevention, really champion prevention at a local level.”

McKean goes on to say it’s important to not isolate yourself out of fear.

“People should not think that heavy policing will solve the issues,” he continues. “These are complex issues such as poverty, such as addictions, such as mental health issues where often just simple connection to services can help people not go down that path. These issues are manifesting themselves into crime because people usually don’t have access to the supports.”

“I hope people take away the importance of them coming together is there and to use the forum for something that can inspire change,” concluded McKean.

The symposium on crime brought out representatives from the City of Red Deer, Red Deer County, Lacombe, Lacombe County, Sylvan Lake, Penhold, Blackfalds, Bentley, County of Stettler, Ponoka County, Eckville, Clive, Elnora and Bowden.

Stakeholder groups included RCMP K-Division, Alberta Fish and Wildlife, the Solicitor General’s Department, Central Alberta Crime Prevention Centre, Safe Tracks GPS, Neighbourhood Watch and elected officials such as Red Deer – Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen and Lacombe – Ponoka MLA Ron Orr among others.