ALIDA — Justin McNish is pleased to see other communities following Alida's lead, and starting chapters of Southeast Citizens on Patrol program (COPP).
McNish, who is a member with the Alida organization, said it was formed last October and it now grown to 16 members. He is pleased with what they have accomplished thus far, and he believes the group is making a difference.
"I was skeptical to start with, too, because I didn't know what kind of an impact it would have," McNish said in an interview with SaskToday. "I knew doing nothing wasn't working, and it's not going to make things worse, that's for sure. It's surprised me how well it's gone in the last five or six months," said McNish.
He believes Alida was the first community in the southeast to have a COPP. The organization was launched after some people moved to Alida and promptly started causing problems.
From March 2023 to March 2024, he said the village had three property crimes, but within the first three months of the new residents' arrival, there was a 230 per cent increase to 10 between thefts, property crimes and more.
"The cops were here basically daily, so everybody was on edge and wasn't sure what to do. We had people with seasonal lots at the Alameda Dam who were keeping somebody home over the weekend to watch their farm or their house to make sure it doesn't get broken into while the rest of the family was going for the weekend at the lake."
A couple of meetings were held with people from the village and the RM of Reciprocity, trying to come up with an idea of what they could do and how to make things better. The COPP was brought up, and the RCMP suggested writing to the courts and reporting the problems the accused people were causing.
"Sometimes they were reoffending the same day they were leaving court in Estevan," said McNish.
Another meeting was held in Alida, and a decision was made to proceed with the COPP. They didn't know if it would help, but they thought it was worth trying.
"We've had pretty good success from October until now, at deterring the crime around here and pushing it out of Alida. Unfortunately, it doesn't help the neighbouring towns," said McNish.
Among other communities looking at a COPP chapter, Oxbow has about 50 people interested and is having a town hall meeting on May 9 at the Oxbow Memorial Hall to discuss the program further. People in Gainsborough, Glen Ewen and Wawota have reached out to the Alida group as well.
"We can't change the laws or the … catch-and-release program that it seems to be right now," said McNish.
Before the chapter was functioning, the RCMP came and facilitated training, with one person coming from the Battlefords to help. Participants learned all they could and couldn't do, and they needed to have a criminal record check completed.
They don't have a presence in the village around the clock, but typically somebody will be on patrol each day.
"There's quite a few people from our group that actually work in town, and then we have some farmers on there, and I think there's some interest from farmers that are going to join."
Shifts are typically two or three hours long and patrollers are volunteers. McNish said a few businesses have stepped forward to provide support for fuel, because the members use their own vehicles when on duty. Vests and flashlights have been donated, and a dashboard camera can be passed around to different members to put in vehicles.
When on duty, the patrollers log into an app with the RCMP, identify their partner for the night, and mention how long they'll be out and where they'll be travelling. Then they report in again when they're finished. They can also say if something suspicious is happening when they aren't on patrol.
Two residential trailers in the village were removed from the community on May 7. McNish said it was a "bit of an ordeal", as a company sold the trailers to an individual, the residences wound up being inhabited by troublesome residents, and the units had to be bought back. Residents from the RM came together and bought the trailers back to give them back to the village, so eviction notices could be served on the tenants. The trailers have been hauled out to be destroyed.
When the evictions were evicted in mid-April, the COPP members took turns on their shifts for about an hour throughout the night for a week, so there wasn't any downtime from midnight to 6 a.m. The trailers were supposed to be removed last month, but the process was delayed because of a spring snowstorm and road restrictions.
"That's why also we're hoping these other towns might come, so if it slows down in Oxbow or there's not much happening, then maybe they will come to Alida and give us a little bit of a break, or vice versa," said McNish.
The Carnduff RCMP has been good to work with. McNish said they're understaffed and they have a huge area to cover with the officers they do have.
"They always say 'Yep, phone it in. Even if you think it is a waste of time, phone it in.' If it's not [a waste], it could still be another piece they're looking for in their puzzle," said McNish.
