Rural RCMP Town Hall recaps 2023 and call handling

Tonight, a Town Hall took place showcasing the work of the Airdrie and Beiseker RCMP Integrated Rural Unit in 2023.

The meeting provided an opportunity to engage with residents and community leaders, discussing policing priorities and addressing community needs. The RCMP also presented a summary of policing activities from the past year.

To start the presentation, Sergeant Greg Tulloch of the Airdrie RCMP talked about the unit's main priorities, those being crime reduction, community engagement and roadway safety.

"Bringing the two detachments together (Airdrie and Beiseker) has allowed us to increase our visibility and be at more places at once."

According to Tulloch, the unit conducts regular patrols of residential and industrial areas within the communities and rural areas while on duty. When it came to community engagement, Tulloch stated they make it a priority to attend community events like Remembrance Day and leading parades in various communities.

"We had members present at the Cross Iron Mills Stampede Breakfast; we were there to demonstrate some of our equipment and be there to answer questions."

During the meeting, an overview of what the Airdrie Crime Reduction Unit did over 2023 in a rural setting was presented.

During 2023, the unit received a total of 4,475 calls of service (any type of call) 2023 with an average of 398 calls per month. This is a slight increase of the 4,502 in 2022.

At the meeting, Tulloch also provided domestic violence statistics for the calendar year.

"I would say that the statistics don't change from year to year, although you can see there's what appears to be a bit of a spike back in 2021. Whereas, now I would say that it appears to have levelled off somewhat."

Tulloch stated each domestic violence call is treated the same way because if a report might not seem that serious, it could just require digging deeper than others.

"These calls end up being the thing that takes a lot of our time - just to get down to the bottom of what's leading to a call to the police."

Statistics were also provided when it comes to mental health calls throughout 2023.

"These can be anything from somebody who has expressed suicidal ideations to somebody who is confused and having difficulty one way or another."

According to Tulloch, they receive mental health calls almost as much as domestic violence calls. He also highlighted an app that they use, that helps assist in streamlining trips to the hospital if need be.

"It's called the Health I Am app; it allows us to determine much more efficiently whether or not we should be taking one course of action or another with a particular person who's in a mental health crisis."

Tulloch finished off his presentation by showing a 2023 crime gauge which aligns with the whole province.

According to the gauge, we have seen a 2 per cent decrease in total criminal code offences.

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