‘We are part of the community’: RCMP hold town hall meeting

By Kelsey Hipkin – Local Press Writer
Claresholm and Nanton RCMP were on hand at the Claresholm town office Oct. 18 for a town hall meeting presenting priorities for the coming year and giving residents an opportunity to provide feedback.
Corporal Christian Lafleur of the Claresholm RCMP started with traffic infractions, stating the yearly goal for tickets is 360, and the detachments are currently at 127. He ensured, RCMP are giving out tickets where it is deserved, and are coupling traffic stops with education.
When it comes to impaired drivers, Alberta’s driving laws changed as of Dec. 1, 2020 to reflect the roadside sanctions program, meaning as soon as a suspected impaired driver is pulled over they’ll be given a breathalyzer test. RCMP have a goal of charging 60 impaired drivers in a year and have currently processed 10.
The officers informed the gathered crowd, in-person and online, that as the holiday season starts to kick off, they’ll be joining forces with different agencies to do major check-stops throughout Claresholm, Nanton, and even surrounding range roads. A recent-such series of stops resulted in 39 tickets issued in two days – including one for a driver clocked at 180 kilometres per hour in a 100 zone, and two impaired charges – each between 7 and 8 in the morning.
“(We’ll) make it sporadic and tighten the grip on offenders who think these are racetracks,” said Constable Ken Jones of the Nanton RCMP.
Another priority of the RCMP is building and maintaining positive relations with the community while increasing visibility.
“(We are) all big believers in being out of the office, being visible and interacting with everyone,” said Lafleur. “We are part of the community, so it’s important to all of us we’re seen and we interact positively, and if need be, we do our job.”
Part of that increased visibility is foot patrols with officers getting out on the streets to interact with people face-to-face. The detachments have a goal of 60 foot patrols in the year, and have currently completed 43. Another part is increased presentations and meetings with partners including fire services, elected officials, local schools and more.
Lafleur said the goal was to have 12 of those meetings a year, one that has been far surpassed as 36 meetings have been held so far.
He rounded out the RCMP priorities with drug enforcement saying, “unfortunately it’s something we can’t escape.”
Lafleur explained most of the local drug trafficking is between Claresholm and Nanton as the towns are on a major corridor between Lethbridge and Calgary. RCMP have a target of six drug enforcement operations a year, and have yet to complete one, due, Lafleur said to a combination of factors including identifying training courses so members gain more knowledge.
Current projects
Nanton RCMP started a pilot project six months ago to address an increase in catalytic converter thefts. The Town of Nanton purchased five engravers that were in turn given to local mechanics. Willing customers could then have their VIN engraved on their catalytic converter helping police identify the stolen goods as well as where they were being sold. There was a positive response to the project in Nanton, and it is expected to be utilized in Claresholm soon.
Jones spoke to ever-present phone scams and explained education is key.
“Unfortunately there are people who do fall prey to these scammers and part in parcel is for us to educate people, if somebody calls and says they’re from CRA, IRS or anything else you can think of and they say they want payment from you in some form of debit/visa card, vanilla MasterCard, any sort of gift card, anything at all that raises the hair on the back of your neck, guaranteed it’s a scam,” he said.
Jones added he’s seen scams where people lose between $100 and $150,000, and if anyone has any sorts of questions about a call or email, to reach out to their local police for confirmation.
Citizens on patrol
Lafleur mentioned RCMP are looking to start a citizens on patrol in Claresholm, Stavely and other communities. If people are interested in joining, or just finding out more information, they can stop at the Claresholm RCMP detachment, or call 403-625-4445.