McCreary residents ready to fight back

Details

Published on Thursday, December 10, 2015

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

A recent crime wave has the citizens of McCreary angry and ready to take action. Between 30 to 40 people gathered at the municipal office on Thursday, Dec. 3, to discuss with members of council and the Ste. Rose RCMP what exactly could be done to stop a series of break-ins that have struck the area over the past two months.

Reeve Larry McLauchlan said the incidents involve the suspects entering garages and homes and taking a wide array of equipment or vehicles. 

“This has been going on for a while. This [most recent series of break-ins] has probably been the fourth rash of incidents. The first one was in mid-October. That’s when all this started. There were probably about 10 places that were broken into, at that time. The next time, it was about a dozen. A little while later, it happened again. Just a bunch of smash and grab incidents,” noted McLauchlan.

At least one of the incidents ended in violence, as a property owner encountered a group of assailants and was assaulted. McLauchlan said this type of escalation was the last straw for many of the local citizens and what instigated a public meeting to talk about the potential creation of a Citizens on Patrol program.

“We went to the Ste. Rose RCMP detachment and asked for a meeting. Something had to happen,” said McLauchlan. “I think setting up the Citizens on Patrol program or something to that effect, is the next step. It is effective in other areas and it could be here as well, as long as we have the commitment. Just this evening, we’ve had 18 people step up and volunteer their time in getting this effort off the ground. I’m sure that there will be more that come forward.”

Ste. Rose RCMP Staff Sgt. Rob Collen said that the detachment will do what they can to help get the program operational as quickly as possible.

“We’re looking at establishing something with the COPP, which is run through [Manitoba Public Insurance]. We’re looking to get it established here locally. Get a followup meeting in place, with the local chapter with COPP, which is out of Neepawa,” stressed Collen. “In the interim, they’re looking at doing more of an informal patrol program. Just with volunteers here locally to patrol during those high risk hours overnight and into the early part of the morning.”

During the meeting, many people also voiced a lot of frustration with the RCMP and its inability to respond to these incidents in a timely fashion. It was noted that there are only 13 officers assigned to the Ste. Rose region, with some currently unavailable due to on the job injuries. 

Collen added that the police are just as frustrated with what’s going on as the property owners are, so it’s important to work with them against the common foe.

“Tonight was very important. People get frustrated. People get scared. They want to know what’s being done. They want to know that this is a priority. Tonight was about hearing their concerns. We’ve already had two additional incidents reported to us tonight that we were not aware of, where people had thought it was important enough to report to us. Anything that happens, even if nothing was taken, is important to us, because it could lead us to the perpetrators,” noted Collen.

Other communities, including Neepawa, Arden and Kelwood have also apparently been struck recently. It’s not known at this time if all these break-ins are related.