Complaints, frustration, solutions and hope all came up at a meeting hosted by Battlefords RCMP at the Don Ross Centre last Wednesday.
The RCMP hosted a town hall style meeting, with approximately a few dozen people in attendance.
Mayor Ryan Bater, City Manager Randy Patrick and Community Safety Co-ordinator Herb Sutton.
S/Sgt. Darcy Woolfitt and Sgt. Jason Teniuk spoke about PowerpPoint slides they projected. Attendees included
The large Battlefords RCMP jurisdiction includes Cochin, Saulteaux First Nation, Denholm, Cando, Red Pheasant and Mosquito-Grizzly Bear’s Head-Lean Man First Nations, Delmas and Sweetgrass First Nation.
One woman said the detachment area is “phenomenally huge.”
Looking at a slide featuring the area, she said “when you see it like that, you go ‘no wonder.’”
“People complain [police] ‘don’t come to my house.’ You’re in Timbuktu.”
Woolfitt said the Battlefords RCMP consists of a complement of 34 members that work in the municipal detachment and 18 members designated for rural areas.
Woolfitt said police patrol Highways 4, 16, 29 and 40.
The Battlefords detachment can call support services from Saskatoon and Regina. Services include an Emergency Response Team, Major Crimes Unit, investigation sections, police dog service and drug units. Regional Traffic Services is also stationed at the Battlefords detachment.
The detachment area has 24-hour coverage, but Woolfitt said circumstances determine how much staff is on watch. The amount can vary approximately from six to 12, although some staff might be away on training, or on medical or maternity leave.
The number of staff on watch, Woolfitt said, also depends on the amount of calls for service. Some nights can feature 50 to 100 complaints, and sometimes busy long weekends bring in 300 calls.
Woolfitt said the detachment calls in officers on overtime if call volume becomes too high.
Detachment boundaries can be permeable depending on different situations, such as for major incidents and if officers from one particular detachment are busy, Woolfitt said.
A woman asked about the distinction between phoning dispatch and 9-1-1, and if officers are more likely to respond to one or the other.
Woolfitt said police response depends on the nature of the call and calls are risk-assessed.
A woman said her experiences reporting crime have varied.
“Sometimes I call and they don’t ask for any information, and sometimes I call they ask for everything.”
Much of the Battlefords RCMP detachment area is rural and contains many grid roads. According to Woolfitt, sometimes transient criminals commit crime inside the Battlefords detachment area then leave.
Woolfitt said many people who live in rural areas have their own surveillance systems and can provide the police with “valuable information.” Some rural areas also have rural crime watch and citizens on patrol. Woolfitt said such measures should act as “eyes and ears” and police aren’t “telling people to engage with criminals.” He also said he’s not encouraging any type of vigilante behaviour.
Woolfitt said police also have to pay attention to people on release conditions who have curfews and no-contact orders, which are often issued at North Battleford Provincial Court.
“When you start putting it all together and if you look at everything, … it becomes quite overwhelming for the members, and this is why we talk about risk-assessing calls,” Woolfitt said.
“We obviously want to get to every call we can, but it just depends on what the other competing calls for service that are coming in, and unfortunately sometimes the complainants won’t get that information because the members are so busy.”
A woman asked about public knowledge of people who have warrants for arrest.
“If we knew people who had warrants and [we], as a community, actually knew those people, we could be your eyes and make those calls and say ‘Hey, I have so and so right here.’”
Woolfitt said police have released such information in the past and intend to bring it back.
The woman said, “the reason I ask that is because my house was broken into and I’m 98 per cent sure I know who did it.”
She said she spoke with police and there were warrants issued but they wouldn’t release much information.
“It’s really frustrating that [my number one suspect] is still out with his backpack when you’re probably looking for him.”
One woman complimented the HUB committee and its focus on education. She also spoke of frustration.
“I’m starting to get hardened and bitter,” she said. “When you’re a victim of something and it costs you nothing but money and you [don’t get anything] out of it, it’s easy to start getting that ugliness about you, and that’s what we don’t want, but that’s exactly what’s happening in this town.”
A man asked if there had been any consideration of military involvement and mentioned a program called Assistance to Law Enforcement.
Woolfitt said the RCMP hasn’t. Another man said “that’s the last thing you want.”
Woolfitt said property crime and mischief is high, but a number of other incidents such as break and enters has been consistent “for some years.”
Traffic offences make up a considerable portion of police statistics, as do non-offences.
Non-offences include a variety of things including suspicious people or vehicles, animal calls, false alarms, lost and found, trespassing, breach of peace, matters relating to the Liquor Act, child welfare, fire prevention, ATVs and litter.
Teniuk likened the amount of calls police have to respond to some nights to reacting to a tipped boat.
“I have a life jacket on, but what am I worried about? Am I worried about my cellphone and expensive flip flops? No, I’m worried about treading water trying to stay alive.”
A number of calls, Teniuk said, result from stolen vehicles and unlocked gun safes.
“I cannot tell you how many times people have $3,000 gun safes but they’re open,” Teniuk said, “then we have firearms all over the community.”
Teniuk said gun owners can be charged for unsafe storage.
If more vehicles and gun safes were locked, Teniuk said, then police can make headway on other matters.
Teniuk said police aren’t the answer to all such problems, they’re the response.
Regarding a number of community programs, “if they’re community-driven, they’ll succeed. If they’re police-driven, they will not.”
As of the date of the meeting, there were 32 citizens on patrol.
Some expressed that the town hall wasn’t advertised well. RCMP sent notice on the Friday before the meeting and Teniuk said he took responsibility for that.
A man said an RCMP officer lived on his block and gave advice to neighbours about how to make the neighbourhood more visible, and small things such as trimming shrubs can increase visibility. A woman mentioned how dimly lit parts of the city were.
Herb Sutton said residents can sign up for the Eyes That Care program and receive a free bright motion sensor light.
Bater mentioned surveillance technology the city is to purchase. According to a recent News-Optimist article, the City is to purchase a Ver-Mac trailer radar sign that automatically captures photos and videos of speeding vehicles and their licence plates. Infractions have GPS and date stamps. The City said such signs aren’t to be considered photo radar as no tickets would be sent in the mail.
City Manager Randy Patrick told the News-Optimist cameras can be used to monitor traffic, and information which could be given to police. Police could use it to capture footage of stolen vehicles.
Teniuk spoke about the label of “dangerous” sometimes used to characterize the city.
“I’ve been here 10 years. I have no desire to leave, my family’s here,” Teniuk said. “It’s all up to everybody’s individual perspective. If you’ve been a victim of crime then you might feel that way.
“I don’t necessarily think the W5 thing was a bad thing. I don’t like the way they portrayed us, but it’s good to get people to understand what goes on inside our community.”
A man said his wife continues to go for walks at night to not let the city become a dangerous place.
The meeting ended with comments regarding the strength of character of residents and of the many good deeds performed in the city.
Earlier in the meeting, Woolfitt commended the amount of people, who often go unrecognized, who volunteer to get kids to participate in various activities including sports and dance.
