Enhanced visibility is a priority of the Okotoks RCMP for the rest of this year.
At its March 23 meeting, council reviewed the RCMP’s Annual Performance Plan as well as survey results from the community through 2019 to help identify its local focus.
“Each year the RCMP deploy their resources based on this plan and it’s a strategic blend of provincial and local priorities,” said Okotoks protective services director Kelly Stienwand.
In Alberta, K Division has identified two province-wide priorities: crime reduction and enhanced public confidence and engagement, he said.
The third focus is set by the local council to ensure its detachment is working to suit the needs of the municipality, he said.
Community needs were determined based on public input from the past year, including a recently-completed online survey that looked at perceptions of public safety in 2019, he said.
There was a total of 257 people who replied to the survey, and of those he said 59 per cent indicated they were not concerned about safety in Okotoks, and 92 per cent of respondents said they had never been a victim of break-and-enter into their homes.
“Additionally, 41 per cent of respondents indicated they had been victims of vehicle thefts and some property damage, so the nighttime vehicle-checking and some of the issues that have been reported to council previously,” said Stienwand.
He said Okotoks RCMP Staff Sgt. Zane Semaniuk also conducted reviews with front-line staff who see first-hand what is happening in the community, in order to help identify the town’s needs.
Overall, he said many issues seen in Okotoks could be addressed with a focus on enhanced visibility of officers in the community, especially since most concerns focused on property crime.
“It’s broadly understood the enhanced visibility of enforcement officers is directly related to reduction in crime,” said Stienwand. “When you look at some of the comments that came from our survey, 98 per cent of the comments that came out are issues that could be addressed by enhanced visibility.”
That could mean more time in schools to talk to students and teachers, heightened relationships with youth in the community, more active traffic enforcement, being present in parks and open spaces, and attending community events, he said.
While council agreed to make enhanced visibility a priority for the RCMP in 2020, Mayor Bill Robertson noted a possible wording change for surveys in future years to ensure accurate results.
“Have you ever been a victim of vehicle theft or property damage in Okotoks – I think it doesn’t quite cover everybody,” said Robertson. “For next year’s survey I think it should have said property theft/damage, because somebody might have had some property theft that wasn’t damage, and it wasn’t vehicle theft, so somebody might have answered in the negative for that because their situation wasn’t covered in the question.”
Krista Conrad, OkotoksToday.ca
