The RCMP is focused on ensuring they are meeting the expectations of the areas they serve by hosting Town Halls; Carlyle RCMP’s first Town Hall meeting was hosted in Carlyle on Tuesday, March 6, to address any concerns of community members from the area they serve. Their goal is to conduct four each year and move them throughout the detachment area in order to facilitate dialogue with those they are protecting and serving.
Overview of the detachment
The detachment covers area from Forget to the Manitoba border and up to Wawota. Staff Sergeant Darren Simons explained that they have a very good relationship with surrounding police services as well meaning comprehensive coverage.
“We work very well with Carnduff and Estevan Rural, we’re all on the same radio; and also with Traffic Services,” Staff Sgt. Simons stated. “A couple of years ago there had been an abduction at the rink and Estevan Traffic Services was in the area were some of the first to respond. So, although they’re designated as Traffic Services if something comes up that takes priority that’s where the efforts are put.”
Currently the Carlyle detachment is working with 11 members; a fully staffed detachment in Carlyle would ideally be 13. Additionally there is a Traffic Services unit, which has three members and fully staffed would ideally be four. However, Simons explained there is a policing shortage across the country, not only for the RCMP, but also for other police services as well.
Within the Carlyle detachment there is a lot of experience with members ranging from their first month of duty to 28 years experience.
Staff Sgt. Simons says, “An asset that we have is that all of us did something before we joined the RCMP. Members have had previous experience as an electrical engineer, a physical therapist, I was in the army, so there is a lot of knowledge there; I’ve worked with someone that used to be a truck driver before he joined as well and learned a lot from him.”
“We also have members from BC to Newfoundland, we have a variety of people who join our detachment, it’s truly Canadian.”
“We are recruiting, the province of Saskatchewan isn’t meeting their recruiting goals, and there are shortages across the country and in every police force.”
If interested visit www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca online or stop in at your local detachment to inquire.
Legalization of marijuana
“I’ll talk to you about this with my three different hats: police officer, father, and Regional Park Board member,” Simons told the crowd. “Trudeau hasn’t really said what is going to happen yet, but right now it’s looking like it will be treated under two umbrellas: like alcohol and cigarettes. It will be treated like alcohol in that it cannot be done in public and like cigarettes because you won’t be able to do it in a bar either.”
“So, if there’s people sitting around a campfire and they’re smoking it, we know their smoke will drift into other campsites; parks are family friendly and we know science has said that marijuana can affect the development of the brain in people from zero to 25-years-old. Right now the Federal Government has said that laws regarding marijuana will be created by Provincial Governments, but we don’t really have an answer at the moment.”
“We do have Standard Field Sobriety training and we also have a Drug Recognition Expert in Weyburn who has done an intense five week program that we can have come up. SGI is looking to train more in this as well.”
“As a father I don’t know what the effects will be on my family right now either. We’re at a wait and see right now; but we’re trying to keep on top of it.”
Additionally there are two handheld devices being tested in the Battlefords which are intended to screen a driver’s saliva for cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, and opioids. If this pilot project, also being tested by Ontario Provincial Police, Yellowknife RCMP, and police forces in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, and Gatineau, is successful it will be one more way to ensure RCMP are able to better prevent serious accidents.
“Piggy backing on this is set to be changes to who we can test for impaired driving,” Staff Sgt. Simons added. “The changes would mean we can test anyone we pull over and what this means is that people who are functional alcoholics decide not to take the chance. This change has been implemented in other countries it has led to decreased wait times in hospitals and has saved money for healthcare.”
The focus would be to prevent something from happening. Although someone has driven while intoxicated and nothing has happened, it doesn’t mean something won’t happen. So, policing wants to prevent any serious incidents.
Theft
When it comes to property crimes the Carlyle detachment is able to call on Yorkton to come out in order to gather further evidence in property crimes.
Members urge people to also take pictures of serial numbers of their belongings. Sometimes an item might show up, but it cannot be proven without a doubt to be yours, and taking a photo of the serial number to store on your phone is a simple way to ensure your belongings are returned to you.
However, the most important thing to do? Dissuade thieves by simply locking your garage, house doors, and vehicles.
“Help us by simply locking your doors,” Staff Sgt. Simons said. “Most criminals are pretty lazy, they’ll try a handle and if it’s open they’ll go into it. The majority of break and enters actually happen during the day while you’re at work, so it’s important to keep things locked.”
“I once tracked a guy, after a snowfall like this, you could see exactly where his footprints went and he was simply trying door handles. The ones that opened he’d take loose change or CDs, when I asked him why CDs he said, ‘I had to take something.’”
Rural coverage
“When our members finish a shift they pass on where they all went,” Staff Sgt. Simons explained. “A lot of the times when we patrol rural areas it’s in the evenings and people don’t always see us out there. But we do travel on back roads, it’s important for us to know the area, so when we get a call we know where to go. Carlyle is a hub for us, so we do spend a little more time here than elsewhere, but it’s where the detachment is and it’s also where court is; but, we do try to get out as much as we can.”
Staff Sgt. Simons also asked for neighbours to continue looking out for each other: “If there’s been a fuel theft for example and you saw a blue car at whatever time, that’s good information for us to know, whether it was them or a different car, if we know about it we can investigate it.”
“If you don’t call in, we don’t know it’s happened. So, if you’ve seen a suspicious vehicle that’s good information for us to know because maybe they were just lost, but maybe that vehicle was just reported stolen. Information is valuable to us.”
Additionally, Conservation Officers (CO) assist in police matters as does the Department of Transportation (DoT).
“They have almost as many powers of arrest as we do,” Cst. Inkster explained. “They can pull your vehicle over and give you a speeding ticket.”
Staff Sgt. Simons added, “In Saskatchewan Co’s, DoT, and RCMP work together. They’re not there to replace us, but they communicate with and help us. If a vehicle was involved in a break and enter, then DoT happens to find that vehicle they can block it in and arrest them, we then take over the investigation.”
“In the summer the park brings extra CO’s in and that really helps us with that area.”
Traffic
“We have a dedicated traffic unit out on the roads and I personally believe that visibility makes a difference,” Staff Sgt. Simons stated. “Our vehicles look like vehicles everyone else drives. We have one unmarked vehicle here and we have one that comes through Traffic Services. We want to be proactive and deal with any traffic issue before it becomes a major issue. We want to prevent collisions.”
When asked about quotas, Staff Sgt. Simons smiled and laughed, “I can write as many tickets as I want.”
Seriously he added, “No, we don’t have a quota to meet for tickets. Our Traffic units are expected to make contacts, but that’s not tickets, that might be a warning or a reminder to fix your windshield.”
Additionally, the Traffic Services units have Automatic Licence Plate Reading Stystems installed. While driving at highway speeds the camera can take pictures and automatically read licence plates. This notifies members in real time that the owner is wanted, the vehicle isn’t registered, the owner is suspended, the vehicle has been stolen, etc… Members will use their discretion, so if it hasn’t been licenced for a couple days usually they just get you to do it right there, but if it hasn’t been licenced since August then you’ll be getting a ticket.
“When they go down Main Street in any town it reads all of the licence plates automatically,” Staff Sgt. Simons adds.
RCMP requests of the community
Call the detachment if something is suspicious
RCMP would like the citizens they serve to work with them by reporting anything they find suspicious. Sometimes the information might be nothing, but sometimes it is an important piece of the puzzle.
“We often have running search warrants that we can only put through once we have enough information,” Staff Sgt. Simons stated. “So, if you see something suspicious we need to know about it, even if you think it might be irrelevant. Sometimes it does mean something and sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes we can’t let on the importance of the information.”
“I’ve had people come to me and talk to me about say a drug problem and basically we’re just waiting on a warrant. I have to keep that under my hat until the matter has been handled. So, we definitely don’t mind people giving us info. We’ll ask lots of questions, but you can remain anonymous if you wish. Any information we receive though, we never say where we get that information from anyway and it’s nice for us to be able to follow up with them about what came of the information.”
Slow down for emergency vehicles
Cst. Dubeau, a new member, brought up the importance of pulling over and stopping if an emergency vehicle has its lights on responding to a call.
“I’ve noticed cars don’t pull over here or really pay attention to emergency vehicles,” Cst. Dubeau stated. “You must pull over and yield to emergency vehicles; and when you’re passing them on the side of the road you have to slow to 60 km/hr. This is my first post, I’ve been out of Depot for a month, and it’s kind of unnerving driving at high speeds responding to an emergency and while en route vehicles aren’t responding in a safe manner. Standing on the side of the road when vehicles are passing at high speeds is also very unnerving.”
Staff Sgt. Simons added, “If a vehicle pulls over and stops, then I know they saw me and I know they’re letting me pass. We are driving at elevated speeds while listening to our radio or sometimes we’re on our cellphone – we have to be for the job, sometimes you’ll be on the way to a call and you’re talking to the person on the phone trying to calm them down while you’re en route responding to the matter.”
“It’s also law to pull over and stop, and we’re actually going to be installing cameras on our cars in the near future that turn on automatically when the police vehicle’s lights are on. It’s for our safety. All of the data is there and we can rewind through it if needed. So, people will be receiving tickets in the mail soon if they’re not abiding by the law, which is there for everyone’s safety.”
A member of the Fire Department in the crowd added that the fire trucks have been outfitted with cameras as well to ensure the safety of their members.
As a reminder it is also law to slow down to 60 km/hr when passing a tow truck with its lights on.
