On a snowy night at the Legacy Centre in Lloydminster, a large crowd of local residents took in the Municipal Policing Committee’s first open house.
“(I’m) pretty happy with the number of people that have shown up, there was over 60 people,” said committee chair Darrell Dunn. “Given the fact it’s very snowy and it’s the first snow of the season, it was good to see people out.”
Read more: City of Lloydminster invites residents to police committee meeting
The committee was formed last spring following changes to Alberta’s police act and adopted one of the RCMP’s priorities: getting the community engaged.
“We realized early on that our committee got to somewhat choose their own adventure and pick their own path in terms of what initiatives they wanted to take on,” said Andrew DeGruchy, the City of Lloydminster’s director of public safety.
“We always meet with the officer in charge of the RCMP detachment and one of the items he had mentioned is the RCMP have always had a historically tough time getting public engagement.
“So, the municipal police committee took that on this year.”
The committee will also be helping the local RCMP determine their police priorities for the upcoming year and feedback from the open house will go toward that goal.
“We do town halls. I elicit feedback through those,” said Insp. Brian Nicholl, Officer in Charge of the Lloydminster RCMP detachment. “That’s how I determine what my policing priorities are.”
Nicholl sees the policing committee as a big plus in hearing from the community.
“The fact that we have a policing committee, now they can be an unbiased ear to the public,” said Nicholl. “Come spring, they will give me what they’re hearing from the public on next year’s annual performance plan.
“They’re also the liaison between the community and mayor and council”
According to Nicholl, crime is down.
“This is why the annual performance plan works and we are driving crime down. Believe it or not, it’s the lowest its been in five years,” he said.
Dunn says RCMP staffing is an issue, even locally.
“We need more people here. We’re entitled to more people here,” he said. “The fact is, whether it’s Calgary, Edmonton, RCMP, Winnipeg, Toronto, everybody is hurting for recruits, it’s not just us.”
Dunn hopes the policing committee will build good relationships in Lloyd.
“Part of the thing I’m really looking forward to is interacting with different groups in town to tighten up that relationship and make some bridges,” he said.
Read more: Municipal Police Committee moves forward
