The RCMP in Alberta believe that tips from the public, no matter how small, are helping them better protect you.  

Police are asking you to report any suspicious activity, person or vehicle to them immediately and say that your call might be the one that saves a life or leads to an arrest.

Corporal Ronald Bumbry with Media Relations for the RCMP can't stress enough about just how important public tips are to the force.  Bumbry says, "It's extremely important.  There are actually some cases where somebody called us just with a tip and ultimately it lead from a crime possibly or some people being harmed in regards to the calls we received."

Bumbry believes some of the crime reduction strategies the RCMP have recently highlighted have led to the public becoming more engaged in what's happening in their communities.

"Citizens know their community better than anyone and they definitely can tell if something or somebody doesn't belong or is sort of out of place.  With those types of situations, we encourage them to contact us right away and let us know if there's any types of suspicious people in the area or vehicles.  Giving us a call may not lead to a charge right away but at least with some of these suspicious vehicles and persons we know, due to our intelligence program, where these were at a particular time."

Bumbry cited an example of when a tip from the public recently led to the arrest of a dangerous offender. 

"On April 22nd, our members in Lac La Biche were advised on a tip from the public of the location of a suspect.  The suspect in this particular case was wanted by Edmonton Police Service for Second Degree Murder.  We were able to very quickly apprehend that individual without incident and not having that public tip, we may not have been able to act on that so quickly or that individual may have gone on to a separate community to possibly commit more crimes.  Obviously, this is a very serious crime so having this individual in custody as soon as possible was very, very important." 

 Bumbry had further examples from Leduc, High River and Innisfail from recent memory where tips from the public led to arrests.

"The tips that we have received make a real difference in how we're able to respond to active threats to safety and, as I mentioned in these cases, stopping potential crimes or harm to the public from occurring." 

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