BARRHEAD - Barrhead RCMP Detachment commander Sgt. Bob Dodds suggested to County of Barrhead councillors during their Feb. 7 meeting that the best course of action when it comes to the annual performance plan (APP) is to stay the course.
For the last two years, the detachment, as part of the APP, has focused on police visibility and initiatives to combat drug crime, and Dodds sees no reason to change their priorities.
And councillors agreed, unanimously approving Dodd's suggested APP priorities, including an offender management strategy.
The APP is a document that outlines the detachment's policing priorities. It is created by the local RCMP detachment with input from the municipal governments that it serves, as part of the police force's public engagement component.
The Barrhead RCMP Detachment serves the Barrhead communities, a portion of Woodlands County (specifically the Fort Assiniboine area) and a small portion of Lac Ste. Anne County.
Council will officially sign off on the APP after Dodds visits the other municipal councils the detachment serves. Dodds will meet with councillors of the Town of Barrhead on Feb. 28 and Woodlands County on March 1.
Earlier in the meeting, he told councillors that for the final quarter of 2022, the overall crime rate was at a five-year low.
"Typically, councils and the public are concerned with and want police visibility," he said, adding that to increase police visibility the detachment has hosted a series of public engagement sessions.
Unfortunately, Dodds noted the last two they scheduled were not well received, the latest being in Neerlandia, where only a handful of residents were in attendance.
Reeve Doug Drozd agreed that police should focus on visibility and clamping down on drug trafficking.
"Everything seems to start with drugs and drug trafficking, especially property crime," he said. "And visibility is what everyone is looking for."
Dodds added that another area he would like to focus on is offender management.
"When we get someone charged up and they are released on conditions, or we identify them as a frequent flyer in property crime or drug trafficking, then we focus on them hard and do curfew checks, and visits," Dodds said. "I think that goes hand-in-hand with focusing on the drug trafficking trade as part of a two-pronged approach."
Coun. Walter Preugschas noted that in the past, as part of the detachment's police visibility strategy, a student resource officer (SRO) would visit area schools, asking if the position still existed.
In the past, the Barrhead municipalities, along with Woodlands County and the Pembina Hills School Division (PHSD), provided funding for an enhanced policing position, over and above the detachment's regular staffing to liaison with schools in the Barrhead and Fort Assiniboine regions.
However, under the new policing model where counties and rural municipalities with populations under 5,000 have to pay for a percentage of their policing costs, the school division and municipalities no longer fund the extra position.
Despite that, Dodds said they've assigned one of their members Cont. Karen Vicente to the role but noted the detachment takes its cues from PHSD and the individual schools' administration.
"If they want hugs, they get hugs. If they want enforcement, they get enforcement," he said. "Right now (PHSD) have requested that she spends most of her time at (Barrhead Composite High School)."
Coun. Paul Properzi asked if the SRO ever visited the private Covenant Canadian Reformed School in Neerlandia.
"In the past, we've reached out to them, but we really haven't had much dialogue,” he replied.
Coun. Ron Kleinfeldt asked if Vicente still ran the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) at any of the schools.
Former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates created the program in 1983 to help combat drug abuse in children and adults after watching his son battle with drugs.
Dodds replied the program is no longer in vogue because many experts believed it not to be as effective as once thought.
School bus flys
Coun. Marvin Schatz said he has been fielding several complaints from his constituents in Division 2 about a lack of police presence concerning school bus fly-bys, specifically singling out a stop on Highway 33 about six miles south of Barrhead.
"It is a tough one to address," he said, adding the detachment also received a complaint about fly-bys from the same bus stop.
Dodds added that he also discussed the issue with Sgt. Lee Drinkwater of the Westlock RCMP traffic services, who stated that he would be implementing a plan to combat the problem, including at that particular stop.
Unfortunately, he said there is not much that can be done given their resources.
He noted after receiving the complaint, Const. (Karen) Vicente watched the bus stop during the time the school bus was set to arrive and did not see anything untoward.
"Because if we are sitting there, nothing will happen, so have we achieved anything? The day we are not there, is there a fly-by? Maybe. Is it because the police are not sitting there, probably? But how much focus and effort can you devote to one bus route or stop?" Dodds said. "There are how many bus routes and bus stops (in our detachment area). I cannot have a police car at every stop or follow every bus, but we do the best we can."
He also said if the police are to have any chance of catching a fly-by, the public must call them immediately.
"Maybe we will be able to get there and catch the person, maybe we won't, but if you don't call us, we definitely won't be able to do anything," Dodds said.
Coun. Jared Stoik suggested the community's peace officer could also be a deterrent, understanding that depending on the route, they might not have the authority to issue tickets.
