The Boyle Rural Crime Watch may be disbanding as it once again finds itself struggling with poor attendance at meetings and little help implementing its programs.
When that’s paired with the recent resignations of the vice-president and treasurer due to other time commitments, who are also the signing authorities to the group’s bank account, the Rural Crime Watch (RCW) is in dire straits.
“We went through something similar last year where we didn’t get enough people to come out to even meet quorum at meetings,” recalled Terry Jordan, Boyle Rural Crime Watch president.
“We seem to be falling back into that rut again.”
Last Monday, Jordan e-mailed out a public appeal to the 145 RCW members on file and was able to fill the treasurer position later that evening, but the problem he often finds is getting those members to turn out for meetings.
“We started training people to do public presentations and the wheels fell off the bus,” he said. “We’ve tried various things, but I don’t have the answers.”
The most immediate goal will be to find an executive director and executive members to meet quorum. Then they’ll wait it out until the AGM in April to decide whether or not to disband.
“I would love to be able to increase what we’re doing for the public and getting programs back out in the public eye, but if you don’t have the bodies you can’t do it,” he explained.
As a result, programs have been put on hold or at least pulled back, but the RCW will go ahead with its annual Crime Watch Poster contest at the end of September.
Kids in Grades 1 to 6 at Boyle School will design a poster depicting a form of crime prevention, whether it be watching out or reporting a crime. The child with the top entry in each grade will receive a $20 award and have their poster entered into the provincial RCW calendar competition.
“We’ve been very successful in having, on a regular basis, people placing in the first, second and third categories. The best we’ve ever done in one year is six out of 18 possible awards,” said Jordan.
The RCW also offers a children identification program where kids in kindergarten to Grade 6 get fingerprinted and the information is recorded and given back to parents in case their child ever goes missing.
The older kids can enroll in the high school bursary program and take part in the 20 Feet Tall and Bulletproof with the RCMP.
“The goal of Rural Crime Watch is being observant of what’s going on in the area and knowing what to do to make it less attractive to the criminal element,” said Jordan.
To get involved, sign up at www.boyleruralcrimewatch.ca. Lifetime memberships for an individual is $12 and $20 for a business.
