COCHRANE— The Cochrane RCMP are finding success in deterring rural crime in the Cochrane area.
Cochrane and its rural area share one of the lowest crime severity indexes in Canada, said RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff.
“It’s one of the safest places to live,” Savinkoff said.
However, this does not mean the area does not suffer from some rural crime.
Crime trends in rural areas fluctuate a great deal month-to-month, he said, and are largely driven by a few prolific offenders who are active until they are ultimately arrested.
Once these offenders are arrested RCMP typically sees a sharp decline in crime.
The crimes seen most predominately in rural areas include theft from mailboxes, theft from and of motor vehicles and break and enters.
Savinkoff added in September Cochrane RCMP saw only one break and enter in a rural business in the Springbank area, along with seven thefts from mailboxes in the Springbank area and four residential break and enters in the rural areas of Springbank and Bearspaw.
It only takes one group of active offenders to create a great deal of crime.
“It just takes a few people to create a large problem," Savinkoff said. “The struggle that we have is that predominantly we have a city of a million people next door to us. Those people do come into our area to commit crimes— We need to look at what is the reasoning that these individuals have for leaving their area and coming out into our area.”
To combat rural crimes Cochrane RCMP has fostered relationships with the Calgary Police Service and partnerships with neighbouring detachments like Airdrie. Through these partnerships, they are able to engage in project-based enforcement to identify and conduct different strategies of enforcement and track potential offenders.
“When I talk about prolific offenders, what that is, is a theory that five per cent of our population is committing 95 per cent of the crime,” Savinkoff said. “By identifying those offenders— For instance going to where they live, doing projects that specifically target them we can be more effective.”
There are a few parts to deterring rural crime, he said, including the Cochrane Crime Reduction Unit.
Since its inception three years ago, Cochrane RCMP has seen a 30 per cent decrease in property crime in Cochrane and the surrounding rural area.
As part of crime deterrent the RCMP uses visibility patrols at night to discourage potential criminals, he said, and encourages residents to take steps to help mitigate potential criminal activities.
“I like to use the example that it’s like keeping bears away— If you keep attractants out it keeps the bears out,” Savinkoff said. “What local residents can do is they can secure their belonging, they can lock their vehicles, they can have some security alarms and be vigilant.”
Savinkoff added RCMP look at local social media groups and neighbourhood groups for information on crimes. He noted, while the information gained in these groups is important, these groups also play a major role in keeping communities aware that crimes may be committed in their area.
“If they keep their eyes open and call in suspicious vehicles that is the best way,” Savinkoff said. “The number one tool we have as far as combating theft from vehicles in the municipality of Cochrane is mothers who just had babies who are up all night with their kids feeding them. As they’re doing that they’re looking outside and they’re seeing those suspicious people with maybe a car tailing that are hitting all the various vehicles.”
Savinkoff said when they do identify an offender and are successful in conducting a search warrant, the next step is figuring out what has been stolen and who it belongs to.
Cars and more expensive equipment have serial numbers the RCMP can run to locate their proper owners, he said, but it can prove more challenging returning smaller items to their proper homes.
To ensure stolen items are returned Savinkoff recommends residents put identifiers on the property and log serial numbers on expensive or sentimental items.
Savinkoff added the RCMP has launched [email protected] as a way for the community to share comments and ideas on how the RCMP can better serve the community.
Cochrane RCMP also encourages the public to use the app Crime Stoppers, which is completely anonymous.
Savinkoff said the RCMP has found great success with Crime Stoppers, especially when it comes to reporting drug activity or suspicious activity at homes.
“Those Crime Stoppers tips are absolutely invaluable and we really do use them,” Savinkoff said. “If they are seeing suspicious activity, which I would identify as lots of different vehicles, different types all out at all hours of the night all the time or continuous activity at a residence. Those types of tips are super helpful for us.”
If you have information on an incident call Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-8477 or visit the websites tipsubmit.com or crimestoppers.ab.ca.
