The recent string of school break-ins has North Battleford councillors concerned.
During the presentation of the May statistics report for Battlefords RCMP detachment, Councillor Trent Houk posed a question.
"The rash of school break ins and vandalism - I'm just curious if this is isolated to a certain group of people or possibly multiple groups doing this, especially after this weekend."
S. Sgt. Phil Wilson noted it was too early in the investigation of the latest one, which happened just the night before, to say if it was related to the others.
But he said of previous break ins, "we believe are done by the same group."
What was particularly worrisome was the age of the culprits.
Wilson said charges were laid against a couple of youths who were over age 12 and under 16. The rest were under age 12, he said.
"Unfortunately we can't deal with that. It's a matter of taking them home and advising child services of their activities," said Wilson. Several had been caught in response to calls from individuals, he said.
Wilson also noted all the schools have made efforts to "pump up their security systems, their alarm systems," and a couple of security guards are employed in schools as well.
Mayor Ian Hamilton called the situation one of "great concern to our community." Houk added "the age of the youth involved is very scary" and urged whatever avenues are out there to rectify the situation.
