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Many facets to ensuring rural safety

Crime and police services are certainly issues for rural Saskatchewan.
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Crime and police services are certainly issues for rural Saskatchewan.

Delegates at the East Central Region meeting of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association were given some first-hand insight into both areas as RCMP Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki, Commander “F” Division, gave a presentation on Policing and Community Safety Friday in Yorkton.

Zablocki told those in attendance the issue of dealing with crime in rural Saskatchewan is one he knows exists. Efforts are being made to improve both prevention of crime and dealing with crimes when they happen.

But there are issues which remain, including the logistics involved. Saskatchewan “is a large geographic area with a small population,” said Zablocki.

The area that the police must cover, with a finite number of officers, leads to “concerns around police visibility and response times,” he said.

The issue is being made worse by the trend of urbanization, which means “neighbours are getting farther and farther apart,” said Zablocki, adding it also means rural residents are often farther away from a police department.

Zablocki said to begin dealing with the issue of overcoming the greater distances changes are required not only within police services, but with the public as well.

As a rule, Zablocki said rural people are trusting and that has meant leaving keys in vehicles and ATVs sitting in the yard. That needs to change as criminals see isolated rural locations as softer targets because items are not locked down as they are in larger urban centres. While admitting locking down everything can be a nuisance, it is a step rural residents need to undertake to protect their property.

Zablocki said statistically crimes rates have increased.

In rural Saskatchewan property related crimes have risen 26 per cent from 2013 to 2017, although they have declined more recently, including over the first nine months of 2018.

Crimes involving assault and other forms of personal injury have increased 29 per cent over the same time, although those too have declined early in 2018.

While crime rates are “certainly a measure,” said Zablocki, he added ultimately a key factor is if people feel safe in their communities and their homes “regardless of what the numbers show.”

The element of feeling safe is something both the police and the public contribute to, said Zablocki, who pointed to one of the key principles of policing created by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 which states: “the police are the public and the public are the police.”

“In my mind it’s really important to think about that for a minute,” he added. “… It’s about working together … both having ownership of the issues.”

That is where crime prevention comes in, changing the rural culture to lock down property, to keep an eye out for one’s neighbours, to have community engagement in the process, said Zablocki.

Having community engagement is a big part in “building relationships of trust and confidence,” he said.

But prevention alone will not solve all the issues.

“Getting at the root cause of crime is very important as well,” said Zablocki, adding the police know there are habitual criminals “who need to go to jail,” but there are others who commit crime “who need our help.”

Understanding what causes people to first break the law helps in dealing with the results of those crimes in the best way.

As for enforcement, which is of course part of the solution as well, a number of initiatives are under way, said Zablocki.

For example two Crime Reduction Teams have been established to focus on identifying repeat offenders and dealing specifically with problem hotspots, said Zablocki. The teams will be based in Prince Albert and North Battleford, but can be deployed elsewhere if a local need arises.

Conservation Officers and Saskatchewan Highway Patrol can now be called upon as first responders to criminal code calls when those officers are closer than the RCMP, said Zablocki.

“We’re able to enhance our response time,” he said, adding that in turn “enhances public safety.”

Zablocki said it will take a multi-faceted approach to addressing rural crime to be effective, with changes required along the way to best meet rural needs.