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By Curtis Galbraith

Theft, drugs among policing priorities for neighbourhood associations

Mar 26, 2018 | 5:30 AM

Grande Prairie’s neighbourhood associations want the RCMP to focus on theft, drugs, and safety this year.

Police and Crime Prevention officials met with a bunch of association representatives last Thursday evening.

Tracy Nielsen with the Crystal Lake Neighbourhood Association thinks all the groups share these concerns.

“We do have a lot of concerns and it looks like we have a lot of support, which is completely relieving for me and I’m glad that we’re all working together .”

Nielsen says extra staff for police means there has been an improvement when it comes to crime in her area.

Mountview Neighbourhood Association Chair Jon Galenza says things have been improving recently in his area as well.

“We all find new ways to find solutions for it, but the crime people find new ways to do stuff, too. Things are getting better, but I’m also seeing the criminal getting more blatant with what they’re doing.”

Galenza says he has seen people doing drugs out in the open and he has been threatened with bear spray by some criminals. He adds he would like to see more bike patrols in his area this summer to combat drugs and prostitution. 

RCMP Superintendent Don McKenna says the police want people to report crimes.

“If your truck is stolen, for example, it’s frustrating, of course, to lose your truck and if the police don’t come to exactly where your truck was stolen from and (if) there is no physical evidence for us. (What people don’t realize) is we put it in our computer system, we recover the truck, we run it through our forensic identification system, we look for fingerprints, DNA.”

McKenna says the priorities identified this year are similar to the ones the associations came up with last year.

by Curtis Galbraith