On Friday February 24, a Battlefords Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP) team spotted a suspected stolen vehicle and alerted North Battleford’s Community Safety Officers (CSO’s). The truck was confirmed as stolen and the recovery and investigation immediately turned over to the RCMP.

Prior to leaving on the nightly patrol, the 5 COPP teams and CSO pair were briefed by the RCMP detachment watch commander on issues of which to be aware. The briefing included the description of a stolen Ford 1⁄2 ton truck. COPP members were also alerted to a social media post which included further descriptions of the stolen truck. The suspected stolen truck was observed about 1 1⁄2 hours into the patrol; from time of theft to time of recovery was less than 3 hours.

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.

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.

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.

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: