By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Ten new Mounties allocated to Pinpoint, new downtown unit

Jun 25, 2018 | 8:25 PM

Crime reduction and the downtown core will be the targets of 10 recently-approved positions within Red Deer RCMP.

Last January, city council budgeted $1.53 million towards putting those additional boots on the ground.

After consulting with RCMP Supt. Ken Foster, City staff recommended that six of the new officers be used to double the Crime Reduction Team, which is focused on property crime and prolific offenders through Project Pinpoint.

The other four will form a brand new downtown unit, which will get to know the business owners and social agencies on a more personal level to find solutions.

“Many of the individuals you see downtown are in fact victims themselves. They suffer from mental health issues, they have addictions, or they’re homeless,” says Foster. “You’ve heard me say a dozen times that if we solve those three issues, we solve crime.”

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Foster says many of the folks people are concerned about are just worried about waking up alive or being able to eat.

“There’s a lot of work to do down there and it doesn’t all rest with the police, but we’re sure happy to be at the table and be leaders.”

As for the bolstered Crime Reduction Team, Foster says that unit is already having tremendous success.

“They’re doing warrant round-ups, tackling prolific and habitual offenders,” he says. “Doubling that team allows that scope to grow even greater and bring some critical mass to those issues. It’s geared mostly towards property crime.”

The understanding between the City and Foster is that these are long-term positions as long as city council continues to identify these areas in the Annual Policing Plan.

Between October 2017 and January 2018, Red Deer RCMP conducted 644 checks on targeted people, places and criminal patterns, including 23 identified people on parole and/or probation and 20 more career criminals with an active history of property crime — all through Pinpoint.

Analysis for the final quarter of 2017 shows at least 149 charges were laid specific to targets identified through Pinpoint.