I was sitting in the court room of the Outlook town offices building last Thursday night wondering if a big crowd was going to show up.
No, I wasn’t on trial or anything like that. I was there because the RCMP had called for a public town hall meeting, an event being done in other detachment areas around the province. It’s been said that the result of the Gerald Stanley murder trial had no real bearing on the call to hold such meetings, but let’s be honest, it’s probably the catalyst to opening the wide discussion being had on crime in rural and small town areas.
I found it a bit funny being back in that court room. I used to follow the bi-weekly court proceedings in Outlook and write up a ‘court report’ that had a big following; so big in fact that it eventually made me feel uneasy and I quit doing it. I grew to dislike writing on a consistent basis about the personal misgivings of people who found themselves in front of a judge, and I just felt like I was feeding the “coffee row beast” of people who’d read my report and then dissect it to pieces over too much java and too few unbiased views.
But that was then and this was now. The court room started filling up with people before the meeting, the coffee was on for those needing a caffeine boost, and our meeting hosts were two cops. I almost felt like making a joke about my “order in the court” being a cup of joe with cream and sugar, but I held my tongue.
As far as the meaty subject of the evening itself, I thought it was a solid meeting and that the two officers took a no-nonsense and direct approach to providing people with the facts surrounding crime in the area. They preached common sense as it pertains to defending yourself, your family and your property and answered questions to the best of their ability.
When the 90-minute meeting was over, I definitely had my share of notes to pore over and apply to the article on the front page. But I also had a slew of personal thoughts in my head, and I wonder if others who left the town offices building that night shared some of the same sentiments.
Cost Versus Need: I think this was my biggest takeaway from the meeting. Outlook’s detachment serves a jurisdictional area of just over 7200 people with 8 members, which equates to roughly 900 people for every 1 officer. That’s staggering to me. It’s like that scenario played out in movies where there’s only one sheriff to govern a small town, and what’ll that sheriff do when troubles come a-knockin’? Regardless of this incredible ratio and the numbers saying that police seem criminally understaffed for its jurisdiction, it’s tough to get more officers because the people who make those decisions apply a ‘cost versus need’ thinking process to such matters. In this instance, lower crime rates don’t seem to spell a need for more officers in the Outlook area. I tip my hat to the RCMP for managing well under these numbers.
Don’t Believe Everything You Read: Statistics data showed that crime is down in the area, but odds are that many people wouldn’t believe that if all the tough talk and views being spewed on Facebook and other social media were to be believed. The result of the Gerald Stanley trial divided so many people in this province that it’s scary, but actually having facts and numbers that apply to your own hometown area is an exercise in being well-informed.
Back to Coffee Row: The crowd size was encouraging and there was a fair number of questions asked, but like most public meetings in a small town where questions and comments are welcomed, most people would rather clam up and listen before going back to the coffee row circles and filtering what they heard through their own belief systems. Hey, I get it, people don’t want to look vulnerable and ask something that others may see as trivial, but I’ve learned that a lot of coffee row talk gets in the way of what the true facts are in some cases, so when people are given an opportunity to speak or ask questions, they should take the hosts up on it.
The reason for the meeting may be mired in controversy and mixed opinions, but I like to think most of us leaving that court room had a better understanding of where our area stands on crime.
Hopefully, those stat numbers look even smaller in 2019.
For this week, that’s been the Ruttle Report.
