I have got a lot of time for the Superintendent of the RCMP’s Kamloops Detachment. Brad Mueller leads a strong RCMP team in one of the more complex policing environments we’ve seen for some time.
This year seems to be a challenging one in terms of increases in criminal activity. In the spring and summer, Kamloops council members heard a lot from business people downtown and along the Tranquille corridor. Into the fall, we have started to hear concerns from residents in neighbourhoods.
We really appreciate hearing from people and we share all of what we hear with community safety staff and the RCMP. Always feel free to contact council members with your concerns.
It’s difficult sometimes to act immediately but, in my experience, the RCMP do act on legitimate community concern. It sometimes takes time to investigate or lower the amount of crime. The RCMP and city hall’s track record of helping decrease criminal activity, over time, is very good.
In a recent radio interview, Supt Mueller talked about how community members could reduce the incidences of “crimes of opportunity”. One good simple tip: not leaving valuables in the car. We have seen a lot of businesses and residential owners use camera systems as a deterrent and as an investigative tool.
Often, the RCMP are asked to be what they are not. They are not social workers. Community safety issues need a team approach. Social agencies, business associations, bylaws, RCMP, and city staff meet regularly to coordinate efforts. We have much better coordination, communication, and cooperation than we did a decade ago.
City council has been actively working with the RCMP to ensure we get all the RCMP members we budget for. We have historically had a smaller complement of members because of national RCMP recruitment challenges. Recent news from RCMP BC HQ has been encouraging. We are hopeful for much closer to full complement soon.
We are also hopeful that the RCMP national leadership will reconsider a decision to decrease the opportunities for Auxiliary RCMP members to serve the community. The Auxiliary program in Kamloops has an incredible history of providing strong service in many areas of policing. I feel strongly we can keep auxiliary members as safe as possible while continuing to offer them a satisfying and large range of ways to serve.
I am hopeful this post gives you a bit more information to the various ways we are working together to bring crime down again. We are still very much a safe community in comparison to many. I welcome any thoughts or concerns you might have. Please feel free to call me at 250 320 6532 or to email [email protected].
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