A Community Safety meeting was held on October 27 at the Prince of Wales Centre. Almost all of the members of the Assiniboia Detachment of the RCMP were on hand, led by Sgt. Michael Shortland. The Assiniboia RCMP detachment members included Sgt. Michael Shortland, Corporal Jason St. Pierre, Const. Jesson Gaunce, Const. Kevin Tufts, Const. Mark Dijkstra, Constable David Wiseman and Const. Caroline Robert, who was unable to attend the meeting.
The meeting included over 50 residents including the mayor and council members. Constable David Wiseman introduced the members of the detachment and explaining the objectives of the meeting. It was a beneficial discussion aimed at understanding the community’s safety concerns and providing an opportunity for residents to speak with law enforcement one-on-one. There were also members from Victims’ Services who attended, so they could explain about their services in the district.
Those gathered divided into three discussion groups to discuss a set of questions. These questions concerned the safety of personal property, business and explored why people do not report crimes. Each group collaborated to make a number of excellent suggestions for each question. These were later shared with the entire group. At the end of group discussion, there was a question and answer session. Although not all written questions could be answered that evening, Sgt. Shortland stated that he would follow up with the individuals asking the questions.
The first question regarded how to protect personal property. Some of the suggestions included putting things away and locking up property, adding sensor lights, alarms and getting a guard dog. Ways to protect business property included installing a deadbolt and repairing doors, installing bars on windows, installing cameras and security monitoring.
The next question explored why people don’t report crimes. This answers were undoubtedly useful for the police to help them understands how the public perceives law enforcement. Each of the groups noted that often people fail to report crimes out of fear, especially fear of repercussions by the perpetrators. Other reasons included that people often do not know if what they view as suspicious activity is actually a crime and is worthy of police attention. However, Const. Wiseman stressed that even small details are useful for the police to help them solve crimes. The groups also raised the point that people do not report crimes because they are disappointed that the police is unable to do more. The RCMP members clarified their role in law enforcement and the actions that they can take under the law.
The key message from law enforcement was they need the eyes and ears of the community for effective policing. They ask the community to call them to report crimes and suspicious activity, as well as in times of trouble.
