Sgt. Bobb Dodds, Barrhead RCMP detachment commander, had some good news and bad news to report to Barrhead town council during their regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
The bad news is the number of criminal code complaints Barrhead RCMP have received this year has dramatically increased.
In 2011, at this time of year, the local detachment total number of criminal code files was 629. Fast-forward four years the number has increased to 1,075.
“So that’s not quite double, but it is starting to get close to a 100 per cent increase,” he said.
In the same period, person’s crime (crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person) went from 160 to 174. Property crimes increased by 288 to 627 and other criminal code offences, which include crimes such as impaired driving, jumped from 181 to 274.
“As you can see the workload for our members has increased massively,” Dodds said, adding one of the ways he plans to try to make a dent in the crime numbers and members workload is to bring in more resources.
Currently the Barrhead RCMP has 10 members, which the RCMP considers to be a full staff for an area the size and population of Barrhead.
“I have just started the process and if I am successful I don’t expect to see another member here for at least a year and a half,” he said.
The good news, Dodds said, even though the number of crime files has just about doubled over the last four years, is he considers Barrhead to be a very safe community.
“Provincially for Alberta the Crime Severity Index (CSI) is 85.7,” he said. “But our Crime Severity Index rating is 46.2.”
The CSI includes all Criminal Code violations including traffic, as well as drug violations. It’s calculated by dividing the total of weighted offences by the population number. In measuring the volume of crime across Canada, the CSI numbers also accounts for the varying degrees of severity that exist between offence types by weighing each according to a scale of seriousness.
“Basically we are half as far as the seriousness of our crime goes. So generally speaking, while we may have a lot of crime, it is petty crime,” Dodds said. “It is what I have been saying all along, your bikes and gas cans may not be safe, but in your homes you are.”
Although Dodds said Barrhead is a safe community to live in, he reminded council residents have to remain vigilant.
Earlier in the day, Tuesday, Nov. 10, the RCMP school resource officer, who was at BCHS for the school’s Remembrance Day ceremony, received a report from school staff about a young student who was seen with a rifle.
Dodds said the school’s resource officer, with the help of other RCMP members, quickly located the student and took him into custody.
“What happened was, a young fellow for whatever reason, we’re not sure why yet, brought a loaded 30-06 rifle in his truck to school,” he said, adding the individual then got out of his truck in the school’s parking lot with the rifle, before deciding to put it back in his vehicle. The individual then went to class where the RCMP arrested him.
“I guess the comforting thing is that if he wanted to hurt anybody, he had ample opportunity and means to do it,” Dodds said. “It is pretty scary, but at the end of the day I think we can chalk it up to a really dumb teenage mistake and I am confident the school is a safe place to be.”
The individual is being charged with a number of firearm offences.
Dodd’s said it is also a good example of how important the position of school resource officer is.
During the school year, the RCMP dedicates one member to act as a liaison between the schools in the area and the RCMP. The position is paid for by contributions from the town and county of Barrhead and Pembina Hills Public Schools.
“You folks pay your portion of the position and here he was at the school when all this was going down. As a parent I want to thank you for that,” he said.
