Sgt. Brad Mouland and Lloydminster detachment commander Brian Nicholl lead a town hall meeting at the Servus Sports Centre OTS Room on Feb. 15. Jeannette Benoit-Leipert Meridian Source
The Lloydminster RCMP held a town hall meeting last week, which was open to the public.
Those in attendance were encouraged to ask questions throughout the presentation and offer their input as to what they think should be focused on within the Lloyd detachment.
“Our priorities are developed through consultations with the community, and through my police officers on the ground. They see things every day, through mayor and council because they talk to the constituents all of the time, and then through general complaints,” explained Lloydminster RCMP detachment’s Commander Brian Nicholl.
One of the hot topics during the community engagement part of the evening was homelessness within the city.
“Right now we need a shelter and we need a warming facility. As a community, we need those services,” said Nicholl.
“Do you want it in your neighbourhood? I say that not to be rude to anybody because, no, I definitely don’t. I do not want those services in my neighbourhood because I do not want what it brings.”
He explained whether the shelter is in a residential area or a commercial area, there will be complaints either way.
“I’m trying to make everybody think a little bit more, and a little bit broader. There is no simple solution, because believe me if there was, we would already be doing it,” said Nicholl.
“The amount of time and money and effort that my unit and the City of Lloydminster have put into trying to fix this problem, you would be astounded.”
He said they often arrive for work at the detachment in the morning and find people sleeping in their foyer.
“It’s not illegal to be homeless. It’s not illegal to want to use the bathroom. It’s illegal to cause mischief, it’s not illegal to have a mental-health issue,” said Nicholl.
“So, that’s a social issue, it’s not a policing issue. Unfortunately, it generally turns into a policing issue.”
Some of the priorities identified for this year are traffic and crime reduction in general.
On the traffic side of things, the areas of most concern are impaired driving and speeding.
“These are the things that unfortunately end in loss of life sometimes,” said Sgt. Brad Mouland.
In terms of crime reduction, Mouland said that’s a large part of their detachment.
“With our General Investigation Section (GIS), we do have crime reduction teams, so we have members that stop vehicles, stop gang members, find drugs, guns etc,” he explained.
“Prolific offenders, they check people’s residences for curfews at night, they follow up with parolees.”
One of the people in attendance asked whether gangs were operating within Lloydminster.
“Are they here? For sure. Are they as prevalent as they are in say, Edmonton? No. Every community has a touch of it,” said Commander Nicholl.
“Our community is not overrun by it, by any stretch of the imagination. We don’t hear about gangs every day. Let’s put it that way.”
