Canmore’s police committee is launching a new community watch program in an effort to raise awareness about reporting suspicious activity to local RCMP.
The Canmore Community Watch Program, which has officially launched already, is quite simple according to committee chair John Reeves.
Reeves said the program’s main goal is having the community aware they can call the local detachment anytime they see suspicious activity without having to dial 911.
“Basically it is a neighbours looking out for neighbours type of program,” Reeves said. “What we really want to do is get the RCMP’s number out there.”
Police committee member Shane Jonker said the program does not involve people patrolling the community looking for crime, but is quite simply a message campaign to encourage people to call 403-678-5516 when they observe activity that doesn’t sit quite right with them.
“The Canmore Community Watch program is quite simple, but it should be effective if the message is delivered properly,” Jonker said.
The program has placed signs around town and created stickers that can be displayed in windows of businesses and residences. They also suggest Canmore residents put the phone number in their cellphones as the RCMP reporting line. It is different from the detachment office line and answered outside office hours.
With one third of residences not occupied full time, Reeves said the program encourages neighbours to keep an eye on each other.
And it is not just crime that can be reported – RCMP would welcome anything that involves public safety. That includes tourists getting too close to wildlife or people walking on the railway tracks listening to headphones – as two examples.
Sgt. Ryan Currie said the local detachment welcomes all calls from residents when they see something and their intuition tells them it is not quite right.
“Anything that is of importance to a citizen regardless of what it is – even if it is a question – is not a waste of time because it could be anything and it may seem trivial at the time, but it could be part of a bigger picture,” Currie said.
He added, with 18 police officers in the community five to six are on duty at any one time, but there is a lot of area for the RCMP to cover and having citizens use the reporting line helps.
“For the most part community watch is a great assistance to the RCMP for just the simple fact it puts far more eyes out there looking, watching the community and making sure any suspicious activity is brought to the police’s attention,” he said.
Go to www.canmore.ca for more information on the community watch program and the police committee.
