As a landowner, RM of Humboldt councillor, Dennis Lueke, knows that he and his followneighbours are nervous about leaving tractors and equipment out in their fields.
We do not have a big problem in the Humboldt area, he says, but a group has gotten together to get ahead of the problem with the start of the Rural Crime Watch 370 group.
Members met on Aug. 9 to iron out some more details of the group, including membership rates and signage availability. A public meeting will be held sometime in the fall, however details are yet to be finalized.
Corporal Mel Zurevinsky was also in attendance for the meeting and has already been involved in starting watch groups across Saskatchewan.
In the spring of 2017 there were only eight groups in operation, he says. Now there are close to 100.
“From January to May of this year, I was putting on five to six thousand kilometers on a month going anywhere and everywhere that wanted to hear me..the program is snowballing at a high rate.”
These increases have led to provincial organizations, such as SUMA, SARM, Saskatchewan Justice, and corrections joining the conversation, says Zurevinsky. They want groups to be established so soon there should be a provincial umbrella to provide groups with more support, he says.
“As many groups as we can get into the program; building that vigilance, getting the word out, is going to be immense.”
Zurevinsky has seen firsthand the benefits of having watch groups established in Saskatchewan, especially in the RM of Edenwold, which includes Balgonie.
They have seen significant decreases in crime since the creation of their group because of their signage and the advertising of security cameras, says Zurevinsky
For Humboldt, their group is on the right track, he says.
“If you have an organization already vigilant and watching out for each other, it’s going to be emmense for the police to have that information come forward when things happen.”
Noting suspicious activity can mean a lot in terms of keeping people aware of what is going on, building a case against a suspect, as well as helping the RCMP track hot spots and shifting trends in criminal activity in Saskatchewan, he says.
Rural RCMP are already behind the creation of the group.
Especially considering the problems in recent years with encounters on rural properties, Zurevinsky says the group is not a vigilante organization but one where farmers can better communicate with their neighbours on what is going on in their area.
Lueke’s nearest neighbour is around four miles away, he says, but if there is something going on, they can easily get on their rural watch site and let each other know of suspicious activity.
“It’s easier for people to go into yards when you don’t have people around. We have to get more awareness so people are watching other yards. We’re losing neighbours out there.”
If someone is on their property, Zurevinsky encourages people to phone 911 and get as many pictures of the suspects as possible to get out to the rural crime watch site and the Saskatchewan RCMP.
Cst. Geoff Applegate with the Humboldt RCMP hopes the Humboldt group is a catalyst for other RMs in the area, he says, but he still urges people to report crimes to the RCMP.
“We just urge the public to report any suspicious activity they see and if they are a victim of a crime to make sure to report to their office, even if they think it’s something small.”
