The executive made it clear at the Boyle and District Rural Crime Watch annual general meeting last Wednesday that they need new members.
“This year we ended up with a quarter of our directors wanting to resign, but not having any replacements, most have agreed to stay another year,” said Roy Nilsen, vice-president.
“We are in desperate need of some new bodies.”
Nilsen said they would like to get some younger people involved, but since they need people so badly, they will take “anyone still breathing.”
Anyone interested in being an executive or a director is encouraged to volunteer.
Highway fatalities reduced, say RCMP
Corporal Sonny Kim gave a report at the Boyle and District Rural Crime Watch annual general meeting last Wednesday, in which he outlined a new mandate for RCMP.
The new mandate is an integrated traffic unit that combines Alberta Sheriffs and RCMP.
A total of five of sheriffs and three RCMP patrol Highwaya 63, 855 and 831, said Kim.
The integrated traffic unit has been working, he said, noting that since he started in 2007, highway accidents have decreased dramatically.
“When I was transferred to Boyle, we had 22 fatalities on Highway 63, and in 2010 we had two fatalities,” said Kim. “So that’s a significant drop in the last three years.”
However, Kim noted that one highway fatality has already occurred this year.
“I’m hoping we don’t pass last year’s stats.”
Kim said he believes the reduction in highway fatalities is because there are more patrols on the highways.
“We have increased convictions and charges on impaired driving,” said Kim.
He thanked the public for their participation in catching those responsible by phoning law enforcement and reporting impaired drivers.
While there is generally public awareness of the drug trade in northern Alberta, many people don’t realize that it goes hand-in-hand with the sex trade.
“You are not separating the sex trade from the drug trade in northern Alberta,” said Sgt. Ian Gillan of the Stony Plain RCMP division.
Gillan has been a drug enforcement officer for 10 years in northern Alberta, having been an RCMP officer for 22 years prior.
Giving a presentation at the Boyle and District Rural Crime Watch annual general meeting, Gillan told the 20-person audience that where there are drugs, there is sex.
“If people have got nothing, if they have no money and no ability to get money, they will still sell themselves, and that goes for male and female,” Gillan said.
He spoke for about an hour outlining the drug trade in Alberta, showing pictures from various drug busts.
“Cocaine is the primary drug in northern Alberta,” Gillan noted. He said this is because many oilfield workers must pass drug tests for work, and unlike marijuana and many other drugs, the body can rid itself of coke within a week.
Marijuana, Gillan said, has become very prevalent in society.
“I don’t count cannabis marijuana in with the likes of cocaine, meth, heroin and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s almost as common as alcohol at this point.”
Some things he told people to look out for are beer and pop cans with little holes poked in the side — “throw-away crack pipes” — and for worried parents, missing sandwich bags.
Gillan said a ‘spit ball’ is a bag of cocaine made by putting a small amount of the drug in the corner of a sandwich bag, then tying it off to cut off the access, so another thing to watch for is sandwich bags with the corners cut off.
