Around 40 residents made their concerns known at the Battlefords RCMP's Town Hall (Brady Lang/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Brady Lang

denouncing crimetown

RCMP Town Hall: numbers, elected officials, benches, liaison officers, and stigma

Apr 19, 2019 | 12:55 PM

It was a night full of discussion on what the next steps are when it comes to battling crime in the Battlefords.

The Battlefords RCMP held a town hall Thursday night at the Don Ross Centre, and with about 40 residents in attendance, ideas, discussion, concerns and information were abound.

The night began with a few presentations, highlighting the direction, exposure, statistics and overall state of the detachment.

Battlefords RCMP Staff Sgt. Darcy Woolfitt, along with Sgt. Jason Teniuk, outlined some of the numbers and factors that go into the RCMP’s day-to-day business within the Battlefords. It was noted that the 24-hour crime watch that they deploy consists of 54 members, each with their own jurisdictions or “watch areas” in which they are stationed.

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A focus for the detachment this year was summed up to “Enhanced Visibility + Enforcement = Crime Reduction”. Woolfitt said within the presentation it is difficult being everywhere at any given moment, and that it’s impossible to stop everything. The big factor was put on residents when looking at changing that.

Another initiative for the RCMP is going to be a month-to-month push on education and focus on impaired driving and traffic safety. They’re going to get out to the schools, as well as the community to address the issues with knowledge.

Looking at the numbers

The informational based-session touched on many aspects, and outlined who is on the watches- one Sargeant and one Corporal, with the remaining number filled with constables- and their jurisdictions.

Next, an outline of statistics of crime, and their calls for service in the area. Leading the way in calls for service by a wide margin was property and traffic offences, which made up over half of the calls for service in both 2017 and 2018. Over the two years, non-offence calls also made up a fifth of the overall calls out, which include a wide-variety of a number of offences. Examples were abandoned vehicles, missing persons – which constitutes on average of 3 or 4 calls per day – lost items, well-being checks, mental health and trespassing, among others.

A note was made on property crime, where the numbers are going up throughout the province. That was attributed to the inflation rate of Saskatchewan, and the fact that prices are going up, which is driving property crime as well.

Lack of elected officials

A question from a concerned citizen early on during the night concerned the lack of elected officials from both the City of North Battleford and the Town of Battleford.

Bill Ironstand said when it comes to these issues, he knows that the community needs to come together to stop, or at least begin to curb, the problems. The lack of officials, in his mind, made him feel as though they don’t believe the issue is worth taking time to come and discuss with concerned citizens.

“This is a very important issue in our area. As the people that are voted in to represent us and to make decisions for us, they should be here. Somebody should be here for these purposes,” he said.

Battlefords MLA Herb Cox was in attendance, and very involved in discussion throughout the night. Ironstand said earlier on this year, there was a discussion on racism in which there were no elected officials in attendance as well.

In his mind, these issues seem to be swept under the rug from the officials in power.

“Maybe they’re not understanding the importance of this issue in our area,” he said. “It’s a very important issue. We need our elected officials here.”

Cox also outlined the importance of the newly introduced Saskatchewan Crime Watch Advisory Network. He was open to answer questions from the residents, and added a different element to Teniuk’s presentation on the network. Stats wise, even from the early days, this push has been significant.

“It’s going to take a lot of work with multiple agencies to change this. The groundworks been put into place, but it’s going to take some time to get there.” _{-Darcy Woolfitt, Battlefords RCMP Staff Sgt.}

The Downtown core

A big part of the discussion surrounded the benches that line the streets on 101st St. in North Battleford. A concerned resident raised the problem of being harassed downtown. It soon spiralled into a concern about the benches, and how they invited loitering within the downtown core.

There was discussion on the RCMP being more visible downtown, but also a large push for the CSO’s. It was made aware that city council is working on deploying more in the downtown core.

In regards to the benches – a resident said he had put in numerous calls to remove them, with no response from councillors or mayors.

When it came down to it, Woolfitt said in the discussion period quite simply, “the issue, is not the bench.”

First Nations Liaison Officer

While going through the areas in which the detachment is responsible for, it was outlined that there are five First Nations within the RCMP’s watch area.

One thing a group of residents brought out up was the lack of a First Nations Liaison Officer within the detachment. The Battlefords RCMP were able to explain that they do, in fact, regularly meet and speak with officials from the communities about issues pertaining to their areas and concerns.

Ironstand spoke on the importance of having someone to bridge the conversation and put a different focus on the issues at hand within the five first nations.

“It will be somebody who can walk in both worlds,” he said. “It’s got to be the right person. If you get that right person that builds the bridge, that person is going to do more good work than somebody who doesn’t understand both cultures.”

Following the meeting, Woolfitt said they do have a number of reliable people to provide cultural information. Woolfitt said it would be something to take a look at moving forward.

“We are really taking a deep look into finding other resources in the Indigenous communities to strengthen the knowledge that our members have of the communities that we are policing,” he said.

Curbing the stigma

The Battlefords does have a heavy stigma tied to the crime rate. The numbers that dictate how these cities are ranked were shown, and the Crime Severity Index (CSI) numbers were provided.

Since 2010, North Battleford’s CSI has been no lower than 275.26 (2014), and no higher than 371.58 (2018). It’s fluctuated a fair bit since 2010, but the issue continues to remain.

“We didn’t get on top of the CSI list in one or two years, and we’re not getting off of it in one or two years,” Community Safety Coordinator Herb Sutton said as the crowds began to overrun the discussion into an all-out argument.

Woolfitt admitted the city has work to do. When it comes to some problems, they range from the economy, poverty, and an overall lack of opportunity.

“We’re dealing with a lot of social issues that are directly impacting the CSI. These social issues are also driving crime issues,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of work with multiple agencies to change this. The groundworks been put into place, but it’s going to take some time to get there.”

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brady.lang@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @BradyLangBFN