The RCMP Crime Reduction Team initiative will be permanently expanded and North Battleford will be a key part of the expansion.
It was announced Friday at a news conference in Regina that the province’s Ministry of Corrections and Policing is providing $1.6 million to permanently expand the CRT. Minister of Corrections and Policing Christine Tell made the announcement alongside Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki, commanding officer F Division.
The funding goes towards two permanent Crime Reduction Teams, one based in North Battleford and the other in Prince Albert. There will be 14 full-time team member positions with 10 police officers and four support staff.
North Battleford will get half that number: five permanent officers, plus a crime analyst and an additional administrative employee.
The focus of the CRT, said Tell, will be “on the reduction of rural crime by deploying resources where the greatest need exists.” They will also concentrate on the provincial enforcement priorities of gangs, gun enforcement, drugs including opioids and methamphetamine and property crime.
The government indicated in a news release the CRT will be conducting targeted enforcement (also known as "hotspotting") based on intelligence, analysis of crime trends and consultations with community leaders. Included are high visibility patrols, the tracking of chronic offenders, addressing gang activity and executing arrest warrants.
Zablocki said the approach was about reducing crime and “identifying that small portion of the population that are committing the large portion of crime.” It was also about identifying those areas where the most crime is happening, and getting at the root causes.
The CRT had been established in February as a pilot project in west central Saskatchewan.
Initially the approach was deployed in 2017 in Onion Lake to get a handle on high levels of gang and violent activity there. Over five separate two- to-three day time frames during the year, additional police resources were focused on the small portion of the population who caused the most crime. Results were positive with calls for service decreased and the number of prisoners held dropping significantly, said Zablocki.
In February of 2018, the approach was expanded to west-central Saskatchewan. Zablocki said the team was tasked with “conducting warrant apprehensions, court condition checks, targeted vehicle stops, hotspot identification, surveillance and drug and gang enforcement.” Each deployment was based on intelligence, analysis of crime trends and consultations with communities and detachments.
“The results were significant,” said Zablocki, with more than 1,300 checks completed for people on warrants or court conditions, and 181 arrests made with 96 new charges resulting.
“Their efforts have yielded results. People in these communities are beginning to tell us that they are starting to feel safe, and that is exactly what matters,” said Zablocki.
Zablocki said both teams will be established this fall. While they will be based in North Battleford and Prince Albert and will focus on those areas and surrounding communities, Zablocki said the team is mobile and available for deployment throughout the province to address emerging community safety and policing concerns.
“The RCMP has seen great success with this pilot project since it started last February,” said Tell, “and we are so happy to support the establishment of two permanent crime reduction teams.”
In addition to the two new teams, the approach of identifying prolific offenders and hotspots will be adopted by RCMP all over Saskatchewan, said Zablocki. “You can be assured that these efforts will be a focus of your local detachment,” he said.
