The new commanding officer for the Saskatchewan RCMP says police are doing the best they can to address the growing rate of property crime in the countryside.
Assistant commissioner Curtis Zablocki made the comment during his address to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities mid-term convention in Saskatoon on Friday.
He said providing sufficient policing services to the vast and sometimes sparsely populated regions of the province can be a challenge.
He encouraged communities to consider setting up chapters of Rural Crime Watch, Agriwatch and Citizens on Patrol.
He said crime prevention and crime reduction are achieved through the sharing of information.
SARM president Ray Orb backed Zablocki's statement.
"We certainly don't want rural people doing things on their own — you know, trying to enforce the law themselves. Certainly that's something we're not going to be condoning. We're condoning working with the RCMP," he said.
Issues tied to rural crime and rural policing will be discussed this coming week at a meeting of the provincial Task Force on Policing.
(CTV Saskatoon)
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