While there was an increase in crime reported in Rocky View County (RVC) for another consecutive year in 2022, all three RCMP detachments representing county residents expect the trend will likely level off in 2023.
Detachment commanders from Airdrie/Beiseker, Cochrane, and Strathmore RCMP presented their yearly reports to RVC’s Governance Committee on May 16.
“There has been a significant increase in property crimes, persons crimes, break-and-enters, and an overall increase of 23 per cent of the total criminal code offences in the Airdrie (rural)/ Rocky View area (in 2022),” acknowledged Insp. Lauren Weare of the Airdrie/Beiseker RCMP detachment in her report to the committee.
Weare attributed the increase in rural crime to the county’s close proximity to the cities of Calgary and Airdrie in her detachment area, and close proximity to the Highway 2 corridor heading north toward Red Deer.
The rising crime trend in the region, Weare went on to explain, also mirrors trends in other parts of Alberta as crime rates return to pre-COVID levels.
According to Weare, her detachment responded to 5,260 calls for service in 2022. That’s a four-year high, but still below levels reported pre-pandemic in 2018.
However, Weare said she is encouraged to see early signs that the crime rate is trending lower already early in 2023 compared to last year during the same time period.
“We have seen a decrease in the overall criminal code offences of three per cent (between January and March),” she explained. “We appear to be levelling out, and I do anticipate that we will continue to level out as we normalize post-COVID.”
Weare acknowledged in response to a question from committee member and Division 5 Coun. Greg Boehlke that most thefts and other significant criminal code offences committed in RVC are being done by repeat offenders.
“It is publicly known there are some challenges,” she explained to Boehlke, when he expressed concerns about the “catch and release” aspect of the Canadian justice system. “We do work closely with our Crown prosecutors, and we do advocate for, when it's appropriate, non-release. Sometimes we are successful, and many times we are not.
“In general, if there is not some sort of bail compliance placed on them, and we are able to monitor them really closely, there is a high risk of repeat.”
However, Weare said she was proud of the efforts her team has made in closely monitoring any known offenders who reside in the region who were subject to bail or parole conditions.
Weare was also asked by Division 4 Coun. Samanntha Wright if rural staffing was an issue for Rocky View County. The district commander responded with the exception of one rural member away on leave, her team is fully staffed at the moment.
Thinking of the ongoing emergency situation in north and central Alberta, Wright also asked if Weare expected any police resources to be diverted from the county to address wildfire concerns or other emergencies within the province under “Article 9” of the “Police Services Agreement,” whereby members could be seconded away from their detachments to assist with an extraordinary public safety issue. Weare replied that under Article 9, she might have to send up to 10 per cent of her force to assist, but historically, the Airdrie detachment has never had to send as many as that, and has always been able to fulfill all local obligations.
“I anticipate throughout the summer to be rotating people through whatever wildfire or flood events that happen,” she confirmed. “It now almost seems to be the way that we do business. And Airdrie detachment, because it is the largest (RCMP) detachment in southern Alberta, we are leaned into a fair amount.”
Similar story in west RVC
After Weare’s presentation about the Airdrie/Beiseker region, the acting detachment commander of Cochrane RCMP, S-Sgt. Chad Fournier, presented on the work his members undertake in west Rocky View County’s rural areas and hamlets, including Springbank, Bearspaw, and Bragg Creek.
Fournier said Cochrane saw a four-year high in reported crimes last year, but also noted the levelling-off trend noted by Weare in her presentation thus far in 2023, despite an ongoing influx of new residents into Cochrane and area.
“There was not a really large increase (over 2021), and as the county population continues to grow and these numbers relatively level out – then it is a positive,” he stated.
Fournier also drew attention to his detachment's adoption of the Rave App in the past year, which allows his members to spread word quickly, even to his region’s more remote areas, to engage the public when criminal activity is afoot. He gave the example of a hypothetical stolen red Ford F-150 to explain how the app works.
“Everybody's phones are going off at once,” he explained to committee members. “So it is kind of like the (provincial) emergency alert system, but it is more for (sharing) information. And then we have every farmer and rancher out there that is cutting hay and everything else – all of a sudden they are all looking for this red Ford. And then those calls keep coming in. We have had lots of success with that.”
Proximity to Calgary
Strathmore RCMP detachment commander S-Sgt. Mark Wielgosz was the final RCMP rep to present on May 16. He told the Governance Committee his region’s close proximity to Calgary remains a significant driver of crime in the Langdon and Conrich area his members patrol.
According to Wielgosz, most of these crimes are related to property offences or stolen vehicles that have been tracked out of Calgary.
Many of these stolen vehicles, he explained, are tracked from the sky by the Calgary Police Service's HAWCS (Helicopter Air Watch for Community Safety) patrol, which allows his and Calgary police officers to get ahead of the would-be car thieves and set up belt spikes on local highways.
It keeps his members quite busy at times, Wielgosz said, providing an example from Feb. 6 this year. He said on that day, Calgary police tracked a stolen truck into Rocky View County carrying four offenders, and his Strathmore RCMP members were able to get ahead of them and set down three spike belts to disable the truck and arrest the individuals inside.
That was far from an isolated occurrence, Wielgosz said. He recalled one weekend late last year when three such stolen vehicle incidents occurred, all of which were spiked by his officers in order to arrest the offenders.
“Just being hub detachments, we do have a lot of spill-over that comes out of the city,” he reiterated.
After the three detachment commanders had presented, their reports were received for information by the Governance Committee.
