ATHABASCA – The Athabasca RCMP laid out their priorities for the coming year, introduced a new mental health resource officer and fielded questions from the public at a March 2 virtual open house.
The 35-minute event, held entirely on Microsoft Teams, was aimed at Athabasca, Calling Lake, Colinton, Perryvale, Rochester, Baptiste Lake and Island Lake residents and is part of the detachment continued efforts to community involvement.
“I think the town hall went well, and I am happy to get as many people as I can attending them,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Hall upon its conclusion. “The questions asked were thoughtful, and provided me an opportunity to expand on some of the topics presented.”
The first item was an introduction as the detachment will be the new home for Const. Krystal Moren, a member of the Regional Police and Crisis Teams (RPACT), which is a collaborative partnership with Alberta Health Services (AHS). The teams, which are comprised of an RCMP officer and a mental health therapist from AHS, combine the law enforcement, and mental health resources needed to ensure an appropriate response during a mental-health crisis. Moren says that her role will be to” intervene, assess and support adults with mental health issues.” While being based out of Athabasca, Moren will be respond to calls as far away as Mayerthorpe, with her area of operations also includes Barrhead, Westlock, and Slave Lake among others.
Drugs and property crimes, as well as community engagement are the main priorities for the detachment moving into the new fiscal year. Hall said that, when it comes to fighting back against drugs and property crimes “we’ve made huge strides in both areas.”
The Police Reporting and Occurrence System (PROS) which the RCMP uses to keep track of individuals who they have come into contact with, has seen a downward trend in the number of files; since PROS tracks suspects, victims, witnesses or offenders, the downward trend shows the success that the local detachment has been having.
Community engagement is the other priority for the RCMP, but they’re already off to a good start. Hall highlighted avenues of community engagement that people might not think about, like suicide prevention or homelessness, as areas for the detachment to improve. A new Facebook page is also being implemented, so that community members can ask questions they may have whenever they come up.
The community had two main questions: what can be done about rural crime, and what can be done to decrease police response time? Rural crime is a bit more complicated, so we’ll start there. Hall said that the first thing people can do to decrease crime in their communities is get involved. That can be through a rural crime watch group, or a citizen’s patrol, or it could just be anonymously reporting something through Crime Stoppers. If the so called “catch and release” policies are on your mind, you can canvass your elected officials; as Hall noted, despite the RCMP oftentimes being the face of judicial issues, they don’t set the policies themselves.
Decreasing police response time is more straightforward; if you want to decrease the time it takes for cops to arrive, hire more of them, according to Hall. Now that does cost money, and would result in higher taxes, so the staff sergeant shared some numbers in the meantime. Athabasca’s current response time is right around 23 minutes, which is a little higher than the provincial average of 21.7. This is a number that Hall would like to decrease as much as possible, saying that “when you’ve called 911, every minute can feel like an hour.”
Finally, Cpl. Alan Caldwell, a 10-year veteran of the detachment, will be finishing his time in Athabasca soon and Hall was quick to heap praise.
“Cpl. Caldwell has been a staple at the detachment. He’s been a positive leader, and he’s done a fantastic job since coming on board,” said Hall.
Cole Brennan, TownandCountryToday.com
