Skip to content

New measures to combat rural crime unveiled

The Alberta government is focusing on the “enforcement of rule of law” with new measures introduced last week to address rural crime.
Crime town hall
Westlock RCMP Detachment Staff Sgt. Al Baird, district manager Sgt. Luis Gandolfi and Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken took questions about rural crime at a town hall Nov. 8 at the Westlock Inn.

The Alberta government is focusing on the “enforcement of rule of law” with new measures introduced last week to address rural crime.

As Alberta Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer’s tour of rural communities to discuss the issue skipped over Westlock, RCMP detachment commander Staff Sgt. Al Baird organized a public forum on crime Nov. 8 at the Westlock Inn, where he, RCMP East Alberta district manager Sgt. Luis Gandolfi and Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken discussed crime prevention with about 60 residents.

On Nov. 6, Schweitzer announced some initial measures intended to combat rural crime throughout the province and van Dijken outlined them at the meeting and said the recommendations come directly from citizens who attended the previous town halls and participated in the online surveys offered by the government.

The province plans to create the Rural Alberta Provincial Integrated (RAPID) Force by fall 2020 to improve emergency response time in rural communities.

RAPID will consist of 400 peace officers in Fish and Wildlife Enforcement, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, and the traffic branch of Alberta Sheriffs who will receive additional training and have their authority expanded to respond to more calls.

van Dijken clarified that the 400 officers will not be new hires, but existing ones who will receive additional roles and training.

Schweitzer also announced changes to the Occupiers’ Liability Act to remove liability from property owners who are protecting themselves from trespassers. The changes will apply retroactively to Jan. 1, 2018.

The Criminal Code still mandates that the amount of force used in self-defense has to be adjusted so it’s appropriate for the severity of the crime, but the new changes will limit trespassers’ ability to bring cases like this to court.

New legislation will also increase the maximum fines for trespassing to $10,000 for first offence, $25,000 for subsequent ones, and possible jail time of up to six months. Court-ordered restitution maximums for loss of or damage to property will also be increased to $100,000.

Organizations or corporations helping trespassers can also face fines of up to $200,000.

van Dijken quoted Schweitzer during the Friday meeting, saying the measures are intended to deter trespassers and “ecoterrorists.” He referred to the Jumbo Valley Turkey Farm incident in Fort Macleod earlier this year, when protesters entered the turkey barns and made demands of the Hutterite colony managing them.

He named two similar incidents in B.C. and Ontario as well.

The government is also making community impact statement forms available in early January 2020 to “enable communities to take part in the sentencing of offenders by letting them submit a statement describing how the crime has affected the community as a whole — including the emotional, physical and economic impact, or fears they may have for their own security.”

Another set of legislation, the Scrap Metal Dealers and Recyclers Identification Act, was also proclaimed Nov. 5 and is intended to make it more difficult for sellers who obtain metal (like copper wire) by theft to monetize it.

The bill was introduced by a private member in 2012 and received royal assent in 2013, but no regulation followed due to stakeholder concerns at the time.

The bill will require dealers and recyclers to request identification, record transaction details and keep them for one year. They will also be required to notify law enforcement of any transactions which exceed the weight prescribed in the regulations, which will follow in spring 2020.

If a dealer or recycler suspects the metal was obtained by crime, they have to report as well.

Police officers also have increased jurisdiction to conduct investigations by requesting records from dealers and recyclers.

The bill also includes penalties of up to $5,000 or up to a year in prison for first offenders ($15,000 fine if it’s a corporation), $15,000, up to a year in prison or both for subsequent offences ($50,000 for corporations).

Both stakeholders and the Justice Ministry had concerns with the bill after a series of consultations in 2014-15. The act regulates scrap metals by weight alone and doesn’t include mobile operators or cash transactions. Cooperation between police, industry and metal recyclers was also unclear, as well as resources for police.

No changes to the original bill were announced by the province, but the aim is to deter metal theft and protect infrastructure like electric lines, telecommunications and transportation.

Will it work?

To address skepticism from the crowd about some of the new measures, van Dijken suggested these initial plans are steps towards addressing the problem and not necessarily final solutions.

The RAPID Force, although government claims will mean more boots on the ground, had some residents wondering about its effectiveness. People agreed the RCMP’s resources are stretched, but didn’t see RAPID as a good solution for Westlock because of the type of officers it encompasses and where in the province they are located.

“I think these 400 people are already working, and it really sounds great … but I have not seen a lot of sheriffs in this area, I have not seen a lot of Fish and Wildlife. I don’t think they’re going to respond,” said one resident who was involved with Rural Crime Watch in the 1990s.

RAPID is supposed to allow the trained officers to respond to calls as they travel around the province, but there is no certainty on how many will be active at a given time in the Westlock area.

Adding more RCMP officers “is going to take a significant amount of time. We believe this is a crisis now and we have to start trying to get into a position where we’re able to get on top of this. That’s why the minister has chosen enforcement agents that are already employed,” said van Dijken.

Expanding the RCMP also has its own issues since it’s a federal force. The value of contracts is set by the federal government, while demand for numbers is recorded from each province. However, it takes time for officers to get through training and recruitment.

Gandolfi explained that depot, the training facility in Regina, is usually behind the economic trend.

As for trespassing, the incidents named by van Dijken are isolated ones, with large numbers of protesters entering farm property to make demands. Crime statistics in Westlock show that this community’s principal worry is property crime, especially break and enter, theft under $5,000 and mischief to property, which have all increased significantly from 2018 to 2019, as opposed to “ecoterrorism,” so it’s unclear how the changes will deter petty theft.

Curiosity about potential liability in trespassing incidents also prompted some questions from residents worried about dogs in fenced yards, but Baird noted he had never seen a person held accountable for those types of incidents involving trespassers.

Also unanswered in the new provincial announcement were concerns from residents and RCMP about offenders being released back into the community because of an overburdened court system.

Baird expressed that police have no control over what happens to criminals once they are apprehended, mirroring residents’ frustration with known offenders who are not in custody.

van Dijken responded that reforming the courts is something that will take time.

Crime stats

Both RCMP and some residents in attendance were adamant that reporting crime as it happens is most important to catching offenders and maintaining accurate statistics. Baird explained that internally, the detachment focuses patrolling based on crime statistics in the area, which are accumulated via crimes reported.

“We need those reports to come in so we can adjust our patrol times,” he said.

The Westlock detachment has 11 members for crime and investigation covering the entire county, including the town and the Village of Clyde.

Gandolfi added that resource allocation within ‘K’ Division is also done on the basis of volume and severity of calls for service.

“If Westlock is underrepresented 30 per cent, let’s say, in terms of the call volume because people aren’t calling and putting it on Facebook, you’re going to see a 30 per cent misrepresentation in terms of funding.”

For the period of January to October, Baird said the total reported file count has gone down by 25 in the county, up by five in Clyde, and up 25 files in the town, again stressing the difference between crimes committed and crimes reported. The statistics only show reported offences.

Meanwhile, residents were also curious about staying informed on crime in their areas.

Town of Westlock interim CAO Simone Wiley indicated that both town and county council have discussed the possibility of introducing a notification system similar to the Barrhead & Area Regional Crime Coalition (BARCC).

Through BARCC, residents can sign up to receive text message notifications of crime near their location, weather and traffic updates, fire bans and other emergencies.

“What I would like to see is … us being able to get information to the police without interfering with their day,” said county resident Wendy Letts.

Letts uses BARCC for notifications from police, but the system is one-way only, and she suggested a similar, text-message-based system from residents to police, or an application called Lightcatch being used in Grande Prairie that allows users to upload photos or crime information and sends notifications to those in the immediate area.

The downside of alternative notification systems is that they do not contribute to RCMP statistics locally or at the provincial level.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks