Members of the Humboldt RCMP and other emergency services were on hand for the RCMP open house on March 14.
Staff Sgt. Adare Guest and Staff Sgt. Greg Abbott, who represents the central district of the RCMP, were on hand both to present statistics from both the Humboldt detachment and the province as a whole.
Rural crime was a concern for many people, with Abbott saying they would not be able to address every possible scenario that citizens brought forth.
Abbott has been to eight different town halls this past month with the Saskatchewan RCMP planning to host events in every Saskatchewan detachment within the next year.
Rural property crime has come up at every town hall he has attended, says Abbott.
The message he wants people to take from the meetings is not to confront perpetrators.
“It’s frustrating. People are fed up, I realize that. But if somebody’s across your yard breaking into your shop, don’t go out there and confront them. Make sure your family is safe, make sure you’re safe, call the troops and get them coming.”
Given certain situations, Abbott is not saying that residents cannot defend themselves and their family. But if they can avoid a confrontation, please do it, he says.
The most static question from land owners has been what are their rights when people are on their property, to which Abbott does not have a single answer.
“You have the right to defend your property and your life and your limb, but the important piece is your actions have to be reasonable under the circumstances.”
Land owners may not know what they are getting into when someone comes into their yard so the first thing they need to think about is keeping themselves safe and not escalating the situation, says Abbott.
Abbott has been policing with the RCMP for almost 30 years and he sees the reality of rural policing.
In the Humboldt-Lanigan amalgamated detachment, there are fifteen officers and two vacant spots on the schedule at this point in time with one officer on loan to another detachment.
Humboldt-Lanigan covers an area from Meacham, past Drake, Middle Lake, and Watson and is also not staffed 24 hours.
Guest says, considering the area, it may take some time for someone to respond depending on the circumstances.
There are police services available 24 hours a day and Guest encourages everyone to call 911 if they are feeling threatened or 310-RCMP or 682-2535 to report a non-emergent crime.
People have become apathetic to rural crime and are hesitant to report, says Abbott but he encourages everyone to report crimes since detachment funding comes from call volume.
Another reason Abbott gives for reporting is that even one call can also be a part of a wider investigation, says Abbott.
Not calling is a disservice to the community, he says.
“I am finding in a lot of areas, people in the community are not calling enough. Sometimes the stats don’t reflect what folks are seeing happening in the area and that may be part of the reason why.”
Visibility is a common theme with what citizens want from their police officers and Abbott says detachments have to think outside the box when it comes to how they can achieve this.
“We only have so many members to cover a large geographical area and most detachments are large geographical areas. How do you get the best bang for your buck in terms of visibility?”
Front line and investigative work is putting a lot of pressure on officers but detachments are still trying to work on getting officers into the public eye by attending community events and doing things like school presentations.
The reality is that they do not have the resources to post an officer at every small community across the province, says Abbott, however the RCMP will do what they can.
“Visibility is a priority because if we can work smarter that way, the criminals see us out there.”
Besides rural crime and what can be done, both by citizens and RCMP, Abbott noted that Saskatchewan has high statistics on impaired drivers and distracted driving.
Guest says they are always looking for feedback on service delivery in the area and that was a big part of the reason for hosting the open house.
Guest says they do annual community consultation reports with local elected representatives and many issues are similar from community to community.
