Local RM looks into crime watch group

The Rural Municipality (RM) of Wallace is discussing the possible creation of a crime watch group in the near future to safeguard the community.

“We’re looking to see if there’s enough interest in it,” said Gerry Burym, administrator with the RM of Wallace.

Burym said his team was inspired to start the conversation on crime watch groups by a myriad of factors, chief among them the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM).

SARM represents rural governments across Saskatchewan. Earlier this month, they held a meeting Regina to talk about creating a province-wide rural crime watch association.

“We’ve had thoughts about this for a while,” said Ray Orb, President of SARM.

The proposed provincial association would provide support for local crime watch groups. Orb said the province-wide label would create consistency and unity across the board.

“We’re excited about this strategy,” he said. “[It puts us] all on the same page.”

The RM of Wallace could be one the municipalities to join this association. Burym said a crime watch group helps to curb smaller crimes in the area.

“There’s a lot of [small] crime that happens...but when you add it up, it’s a lot,” he said.

A crime watch group would encourage participants to report criminal activity to the RCMP. The program wouldn’t involve any official training. Burym thinks the group has to be efficient to succeed.

“It has to be organized to work,” he said.

The RM of Wallace alerted its residents about the crime watch group discussion. If there’s enough interest, a public meeting will be held at an undecided date in the future.