WESTLOCK – To tackle the region’s surge in thefts, police have intensified their focus on prolific offenders in Westlock and Westlock County.
The approach involves officers making routine stops when the individuals are seen walking or driving, and conducting checks at their homes if they are under curfew.
“The members are tasked to go be their best friend,” Westlock RCMP S/Sgt Jeff Sehn told Westlock County during a committee meeting on Aug. 13. “If we have any reason to go see them we go see them. So much so that one of them has written the province saying we’re harassing him.”
Division 1 Coun. Sherri Provencal said she was pleased to hear about the increased enforcement.
“It’s a positive for people coming back here and moving here knowing we have RCMP going after those prolific offenders,” she said. “I have had people from the Pickardville area call me and say they are really happy to see the RCMP and Peace Officers going through Pickardville.”
Division 7 Coun. and Reeve Christine Wiese asked if there was anything the county could do more in terms of bylaws to help the police.
S/Sgt. Sehn said that Westlock County has some good bylaws and its Peace Officers have been using them.
“There is some talk of a Crime Reduction Unit but that’s a whole other conversation,” he added.
A lot of the search warrants that the Westlock RCMP officers have been executing are generally done by RCMP Crime Reduction Units, he said adding that the local officers are happy to do it and want to make an impact.
S/Sgt. Sehn told council that the detachment’s other two top priorities include community engagement and dealing with mental health/substance abuse issues.
Community engagement involves sending out Rave Alerts to Crime Prevention Groups, issuing media releases, participating in town hall events, conducting youth and senior presentations, and holding Coffee with a Cop.
Westlock RCMP officers plan to use the HealthIM app to improve their response to mental health crises. Officers input information about a person’s emotional state, intoxication, hallucinations and violence and the app determines if someone is at risk of harming themselves or others.
If the individual requires hospitalization, HealthIM sends a report directly to the health-care centre. Since using HealthIM, officers spend less time waiting in hospital with the person in crisis.
“The ultimate idea behind that is for the province to track how much time we spend at hospitals waiting for them to take over mental health issues,” said S/Sgt. Sehn.
Officers used to spend four to five hours waiting for hospital staff in Edmonton to admit the person before they were free to leave. The hospitals are aiming for a 90-minute turn-around time.
“We are hitting it sometimes, not all the time.”
In a recent initiative, Westlock RCMP selected one high-risk mental health person to help.
“This individual would almost nightly walk into people's houses. We approached them and offered some resources, which they denied. We went to their family and offered them resources and they denied. In that process, we partnered up with a community outreach worker who had been trying to get this lady help for four years, and it was just getting stalled.
“She has been put into a secure treatment house in Edmonton and she is getting the help she needs and we are not getting 120 investigations a year,” he added.
The next quarter, Westlock RCMP will select a second high-risk mental health individual to help, he said.
