Barrhead is a safe community.
That is the message Barrhead RCMP Detachment commander, Sgt. Bob Dodds, wants to impart to the readers of the Barrhead Leader.
On Monday, Aug. 22, the Leader asked Dodds if he still felt that way after the commitment of two person crimes in less than a week — a fatal shooting in Manola on Aug. 10, and an armed robbery attempt at Connie May's convenience store in Lac La Nonne on Aug. 13.
In the past, Dodds has been on record saying that while the Barrhead area has an issue with property crime, namely theft, mainly due to a meth drug problem, he has said people, by and large, can feel safe when they walk the streets and when they are in their homes.
“I know these two incidents seem to fly in the face of my previous statements, but in reality they don’t,” he said, adding the two incidents are isolated.
Although the RCMP Major Crimes Unit, based out of Edmonton, are in the process of investigating the Manola incident, Dodds said so far the investigation leads them to believe it wasn’t a random event.
“It was a targeted event. It wasn’t just a person breaking into a random house to do something,” he said.
As for the armed robbery attempt, Dodds said it is something that happens in all communities from time to time.
In the Lac La Nonne armed robbery attempt, a lone male, who had been in the store for several minutes, donned a balaclava and demanded money. When the staff refused the suspect left the store and returned shortly after demanding cash once again.
“It was more of a drunken stupidity situation and one where, luckily no one was hurt,” he said, adding store staff was able to scare the would-be robber off.
In the last year-and-a-half to two years, Dodds can recall only four other similar types of robberies or robbery attempts.
Out of those, Dodds said the detachment were able to clear or solve three of them. As for the latest attempt in Lac La Nonne, police are still looking for the suspect who is described as a First Nations male with full sleeve tattoos and a tear drop tattoo under his left eye. The suspect was last seen driving eastbound on Highway 651 in a gray or silver Honda.
Dodds said he also wanted to caution people against taking matters into their own hands when confronted by crime.
“We often hear people saying that if someone comes on to my property trying to steal something, I’m going to shoot them,” he said, adding the law is clear when it comes to defending themselves and their property. “Self defence is tenuous. If your person is threatened you have the right to physically defend yourself to a reasonable extent. The same right doesn’t extend to defending your property.”
For example, Dodds said if a person goes on to someone’s property to steal a gas can or a vehicle that doesn’t give them the right to start shooting.
“We just had that in Biggar, Saskatchewan, a couple weeks ago, when a young fellow was shot and killed. I know that property owner has been charged criminally,” he said.
The incident Dodds is referring to happened on Aug. 9 when Colten Boushie, 22, was shot and killed in a farmyard. Gerald Stanley has been charged with second-degree murder.
“We also had an incident locally where a man shot at a car from his yard and a young woman was struck in the foot,” he said, adding the case is currently in the court system. “I just don’t want people to get carried away.”
As for what a person should do when confronted with potential physical harm as in the case of the attempted armed robbery in Lac La Nonne, Dodds said it is difficult to know what to do.
“It all depends on the circumstances. We don’t want people confronting armed intruders if there is any other alternative. In this case (Lac La Nonne), they confronted him and fortunately the guy turned around and left,” he said, adding it could have turned out differently. “I can’t think of anything in that store that is worth getting seriously hurt or killed over.”
Dodds concluded the interview reiterating that Barrhead is a safe community.
“Those of us that don’t hang out with the criminal element or are involved in or on the fringe of the drug culture are safe in our homes,” he said.
