Police visibility big concern at Carrot River RCMP town hall meeting

CARROT RIVER — As the Carrot River detachment of the RCMP enter a new policing year, the biggest criticism they received at their biannual town hall was lack of visibility.

“We weren’t as visible as people would like it, so it’s something we’re still working on,” said Sgt. Richard Tonge with the Carrot River RCMP.

The town hall took place on May 1.

“Our main objective is to get out, talk with the community and see if there is anything they would like to see the police doing or we could do better,” Tonge said. “Get their input, because ultimately we want to tailor our policing objectives to the wants and needs of the community.”

Visibility has been one of the detachment’s main three priorities.

“People in the community like to see the police and like to have positive interactions with the police.”

He said he feels that the visibility is the biggest thing the Carrot River community wants to see from the detachment.

“Our guys have been getting out into the schools, community events, community suppers, youth sports, and most of our members are actually playing recreational hockey with the local guys. Just interactions in and out of the uniform.”

The detachment’s second priority is impaired driving and traffic safety. Their third priority is crime prevention.

Tonge said all local objectives align with provincial objectives. This new policing year, their priorities will remain the same.

A minor challenge he found this past policing year was incorporating new members into the detachment.

“We’ve incorporated some new members into the community, so it takes some time for them to know the area and get fully up to speed on some of the issues unique to our area,” Tonge said. “Some of our guys are new to Indigenous policing, going out to the First Nations. Guys are coming from Toronto, they are not used to the small community, things like that.”

He said his plan to continue improving visibility is having their new members be more involved with the community.

“It’s a matter of getting involved, getting to community in ways besides being the local policeman.”

The detachment has been having two town halls a year for the past two years. Tonge said he believes May 1 was positive, but lacked the amount of critiques he would have liked.

“It’s hard for us to improve without knowing what we’re not doing as well as what the community would like,” Tonge said. “It’s Carrot River, it’s a very pro-police community and people are happy to see the police. You get more pats on the back than complaints, that’s for sure.”