Updates from the provinces | Canadian Citizens on Patrol

BC News Spring 2021

While this is a BC Newsletter, it is going out through our Canadian Citizens On Patrol group which is in seven of our provinces. It now has a Facebook page so we encourage all of you to like that our page so that we are joined with your many friends. We also have a website www.ccopa.ca and on that site, we have all the news that is news! We have information on the provinces and their representatives who are part of us – BC, AB, SK, ON, PEI, NB, and NS. So if you want to start a local group or just browsing, check us out. We are a well functioning group who communicates by email but mostly via ZOOM and we hold 3-4 meetings a year to talk about issues but also to help any groups who are struggling with keeping numbers etc.

Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods

On any block and in any neighbourhood, it only takes one house that is harbouring illegal activities to undermine the safety of all residents of that community and affect the property values throughout that neighbourhood.

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act is intended to empower residents to take back their neighbourhoods by reporting problem residences or businesses that are habitually used for illegal activities. These activities could include drugs, prostitution, gang or criminal activities, child sexual abuse or the unlawful sale or consumption of alcohol.

If you are suspicious of a property in your neighbourhood, do not investigate it yourself or approach the occupants.

Saskatchewan Safer Communities Screen Capture

Saskatchewan Crime Watch Advisory Network Launched

On March 7, 2019, the Honourable Christine Tell, Minister of Corrections and Policing, and A/Commissioner Mark Fisher, Commanding Officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP, along with some of our community partners, announced the launch of the ‘Saskatchewan Crime Watch Advisory Network’.

The ‘Saskatchewan Crime Watch Advisory Network’ is a crime prevention program that uses mass notification technology (Everbridge) to more effectively and efficiently communicate with participating residents, corporations, and organizations. The Everbridge Mass Notification system is used by frontline employees to send advisories to the public via text message, email, and/or landline. Community members will purposely sign up to receive these notifications.

North Battleford Introduces Eyes That Care for residents who want to address preventable crime.

The 2016 Crime Severity Index was released in July 2017. North Battleford has made progress and is no longer #1 on the Violent Crime Severity Index. However, preventable crimes such as vehicle thefts and residential break-ins continue to rise keeping us #1 overall.

North Battleford wants to expand on the successes of our Community Safety Strategy and enhanced “Eyes That Care”. This project empowers residents who want to address our preventable crime challenges and encourages residents to do the following:

Citizens on patrol: How residents of a small Alberta town are helping police fight rural crime

OLDS, Alta. — In the early hours of the morning, 85-year-old Margaret Erickson sometimes goes looking for trouble. A member of the Citizens on Patrol group in Olds, Alta., Erickson and 60 fellow volunteers act as extra sets of eyes and ears for the local RCMP detachment.

They drive around town looking for anything that’s amiss: a car that doesn’t belong, a gate that’s mysteriously open in an industrial area or, says Jimmy Jeong, who moved to Olds from South Korea less than two years ago, aggressive driving.