BOYLE – It was a bit quieter of an evening for the Boyle RCMP April 20, when they concluded a series of three town halls that brought in close to 100 people.
The cops were in Wandering River April 11, Grassland April 12, and Boyle April 20, for the first set of public meetings that Boyle RCMP Sgt. Dennis Properzi was able to hold since taking over in 2022.
“I think it went really well,” said Properzi in an April 24 interview. “It was a good opportunity to put faces to people, and have the people put faces to the enforcement partners we have in the area. It’ll help people know the different avenues that the public can relay concerns to.”
Alongside Properzi were County of Athabasca peace officers Kevin Rowan and Jason Ollie, District Fish and Wildlife officer Lukas Madsen and Alberta Sheriff Sgt. Travis House, who runs the four-man detachment out of Atmore and Boyle RCMP Sgt. Gavin Bergey.
A civil affair
Properzi had said that he wasn’t sure what to expect walking into the final town hall in Boyle; Wandering River had drawn about 30 people, and Grassland had pulled in 60, with many staying afterwards to ask the officers questions. Boyle ended up bringing out about 15 individuals, but the smaller turnout didn’t mean that it wasn’t a success.
“They were all fairly well received from what we heard, and from the feedback we got. Everybody seems to be fairly happy. There were a few things we clarified, like response times and some of the reasons that delays can occur,” said Properzi.
Response times have been a big theme at both the Boyle and Athabasca RCMP town halls, and multiple agencies spoke to it during the Boyle meeting.
“We know that when you’re on the phone with 9-1-1, those ten minutes start to feel like three hours,” said Properzi. It’s also not as simple as having a car turn on its sirens and go flying to a scene either. “We need to justify those lights and sirens, and if we make that mistake (on the road) we face serious consequences.”
Properzi pointed to Const. Harvinder Dhami, an Alberta RCMP officer who was killed when he struck a cement barrier April 10 as an example of the risks.
Rapid response
To combat the issue of increasing rural response times, the province launched the Rural Alberta Provincial Integrated Defence (RAPID) Response initiative in 2021, which provides Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers, as well as Alberta Sheriffs with the resources and training to help the RCMP out responding to calls.
So far, deployment of the program has been slow, and it hasn’t been without its challenges. Madsen said that his detachment had responded to ten calls through the initiative, but it was really still in its infancy.
“We’re trying to avoid scenarios where we are seeing or hearing red and blues (sirens) go by, while we’re just sitting around wondering what’s going on,” said Madsen.
The first step in getting it fully off the ground is going to be communication, according to the officers. Their radios don’t always connect well to one another, and there’s been times where information isn’t getting communicated across the three branches.
“There’s times where we know that there’s a guy driving a grey SUV, and we know that buddy might be armed, but what good is that information if the Sheriff or Fish and Wildlife officer pulling him over doesn’t know that,” said Properzi.
