The annual account - Rivers Police Service
- Details
- Published on Sunday, January 14, 2018
Bruce Klassen
Rivers Police Service
On behalf of the members of Rivers Police Service (RPS), it gives me great pleasure to share our 2017 annual report with you. Members are dedicated to providing the very best police service possible to the citizens they serve. They are able to do this through the support provided by our governing bodies, council and our police board. We continue to explore opportunities that allow us to maintain and improve upon the level of service provided to the community. We do this through continually assessing the services provided.
I will be completing my fourth year as chief and would like to personally thank the citizens of Rivers for offering me this opportunity. Over the past year several programs have been deployed including Road Watch, victim services, justice committee, Use your Head and Ident a Kid.
I encourage all who read this report to participate in the future of your policing needs by offering constructive suggestions on how we can continue to provide the level of service the community should expect.
There has been a general decline in crime in Rivers; following are five-year comparisons. In 2017 there were 69 Criminal Code crimes, the same number as in 2016; 2015 had 109, 2014 was 83 and 2013 had 43. In the traffic section there were 75 cases in 2017, 149 in 2016, 105 in 2015, 100 in 2014 and 62 in 2013. The Liquor and Gaming Control Act and Intoxicated Persons Detention Act were enforced 11 times last year, 14 times in 2016, 15 in 2015, 11 in 2014 and 10 times in 2013. Members enforced four local bylaws 39, 57, 58, 38 and 39 times in the past five years. They completed 236, 246, 196, 157 and 205 calls to assist public, agencies, RCMP, etc. during the years 2017-13. The miscellaneous section also shows an average decrease of 188, 282, 279, 154 and 167 in the descending respective years.
The three-person Rivers Police Board is chaired by Debbie Phythian; other members are Bryan Smith and Lori Dyer. Your RPS is staffed by myself, Sgt. Robert Futrell, Cst. Brett Seib, part-time constables Brett Morgan and Britt Roque. Our volunteer cadets are Dallas Scott, Sheena Hooke, Derek Wowchuk, Brian Bourdon, Clayton Kozak and Justin Compte. Rev. Warren Smallwood volunteers his time as our padre and he serves as both the victim services co-ordinator and chairman of Riverdale Justice Committee. Dallas Murray is our part-time animal control officer.
Our vision is to keep Rivers safe. Responsibility for preventing and detecting crime and anti-social behaviour is not the work of the police alone. To quote the founder of modern day policing, Sir Robert Peel, “The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community welfare and existence.” It is essential that police and the public form partnerships and work together in order to maintain a law-abiding society and thereby, strengthen our community and keep it safe. In fulfilling this vision, every RPS member is committed to our community pledge, which demonstrates how every member will conduct themselves when dealing with the public. All staff must be: attentive by listening to individuals and the community; responsive to the needs of individuals and the community; reliable by maintaining the community’s respect; skilled with the right tools and abilities to do the job; polite at all times; fair at all times.
