December 13, 2011

RCMP Encourage Public Reporting

St. Albert RCMP are asking the community to actively become the extra eyes and ears for the police, which means calling the RCMP Detachment whenever suspicious behaviour is seen or heard. St. Albert was listed as one of the safest communities in Canada in the recent past, but this does not mean that St. Albert has been able to escape being affected by crime.

One example of a criminal issue that has cost St. Albert residents thousands of dollars in lost or damaged property, according to police estimates, is thefts from motor vehicles. In 2010, St. Albert RCMP received 765 reports that someone had broken into parked vehicles and stolen contents such as purses, wallets, GPS systems, I-Pods, cash, laptops and a variety of items. So far in 2011, there have been 428 reports of these kinds of thefts in St. Albert.

The key to preventing this type of crime is two-fold. The first step is to remove all valuables from vehicles and make sure they are locked. The second step is to call the RCMP whenever people are seen tampering with vehicles or suspicious person(s) are heard wandering on the streets, or in parks/ green spaces. When St. Albert RCMP investigate these thefts, often they hear from residents that they saw a suspect or heard someone outside by the car, but did not call 911 as they did not want to bother the RCMP.

St. Albert RCMP welcome calls from the public 24 hours a day. If even one call allows the police to stop a rash of vandalism or thefts from vehicles, that is a victory for the whole community. Some people are concerned about retaliation if they call, but the RCMP do not release the names of callers. Retaliation is rare, and if it did occur, there would be swift repercussions from the police.

Let's keep St. Albert as one of the safest Canadian cities - Make the calls!