Priorities for police service in the Foothills this year include property crime, traffic safety and enhanced visibility and engagement.
The Annual Performance Plan for Foothills RCMP (operating out of Turner Valley) was presented to council on May 12 by Turner Valley RCMP Staff Sgt. Laura Akitt.
She said the priorities for 2021 were derived from a public survey conducted early in the year, which had 203 respondents, of which 60 per cent lived in Foothills County.
“I think we received a good voice from the rural residents within the greater Foothills County,” said Akitt.
Reading survey responses revealed trends in resident concerns, which led to the development of the 2021 priorities, she said.
“The primary concern within the county is theft – property theft, theft of vehicles, theft from sheds – within the greater rural areas,” said Akitt. “That’s going to be our number-one objective within our Annual Performance Plan this year.”
She said though there are still issues with property theft in the county, statistics from 2020 and 2021 showed about a 51 per cent decrease year-over-year, which was largely due to a drop in the number of theft under $5,000 offences from 14 to eight, and just two cases of possession of stolen goods as opposed to 11 the year before.
The second focus will be on traffic safety, especially given the increased flow of vehicles around the region due to travel being restricted during the pandemic. There will be targeted efforts on speed as well as monitoring cyclists to ensure riders are single-file for safety.
Roads of highest concern include Highway 7, Highway 22 and Secondary Highway 546, she said.
“Targeted traffic enforcement is going to be an objective of ours for this fiscal year, so that we can really try to work on those roadways and have that presence,” said Akitt. “Our goal is to work closely this year with the Foothills CPOs (community peace officers) as well.”
Third on the list of priorities is increasing the visibility and presence of RCMP in the Foothills community. Akitt said she had hoped to do more engagement over the last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into those plans.
She had intended to hold town-hall-style meetings to have conversations with residents in the county and provide them the opportunity to meet one-on-one with the RCMP officers watching over the municipality.
“That’s one area I haven’t been able to do as wholeheartedly as I wanted to,” said Akitt.
To help bridge that gap, Akitt launched the Mountie Moments newsletter – a weekly update on happenings in the region to keep residents informed of any incidents and investigations taking place.
“It’s a snapshot of types of investigations we’ve dealt with within the previous week in the entire Foothills County,” she said. “I highlight key investigations we’re working on for public support.”
She also created an email account for county residents to contact the RCMP with any questions or concerns with relation to policing.
“It’s my hope that as residents get more comfortable with that, they’ll start to forward me questions,” said Akitt.
One of the successes from the past year has been launching the Community Assisted Policing Through Use of Recorded Evidence (CAPTURE) program, which encourages business and homeowners to register their security cameras with the RCMP in order to help with criminal investigations.
She said the system is now up-and-running throughout Foothills County.
“I strongly believe that the Capture program, once we have community involvement in it and we get the database set up with residents, businesses that have available video, that it’s really going to help us in relation to our property thefts or our thefts from vehicles and those types of investigations moving forward,” said Akitt.
Inspector Ian Shardlow said the Foothills County policing program, which brought RCMP from Okotoks, High River and Turner Valley into a single rural-focused unit, is in the process of moving from a pilot to permanent status.
“Within the last couple of weeks we’ve had a number of conversations with K Division, the management within the province, around what they would require from us moving forward to solidify this as a means of doing business,” said Shardlow.
The RCMP district office has requested a full business case, which he said is being compiled.
To-date, the program has been a success, he said.
“I see it as a real benefit to the community moving forward,” said Shardlow.
