SARM joins calls for better RCMP communication

The lack of communication between the RCMP and communities east of Round Lake last week is a big concern for the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM).

Ray Orb, the president of SARM, said many rural residents felt left out of the loop when it came to communication.

“I think they feel like they’re being a little neglected, in some sense maybe forgotten about, because the farms and ranches are pretty sparsely located in some areas,” said Orb.

No public alert was issued in the area of Round Lake on Friday morning after police found a man had been killed and a woman hurt during a break-in.

Orb said there are tools the RCMP could have used to keep the community informed, like sending out public alerts to let people know to look out for anything suspicious.

That’s a measure which Orb said could improve public safety and help the police at the same time, because there are a lot of eyes and ears out there, and many farmers have cameras in their yards.

Orb said it merits a conversation with the RCMP on what should trigger a public alert.

“If the RCMP has different criteria than we think, I think that’s something we need to discuss, because it doesn’t seem like those tools were used, and that’s what it’s there for,” said Orb.

In the past, when a serious crime has happened in rural Saskatchewan, Orb said his association has tried to get the RCMP to contact administrators for the local RM to advise them of what’s happened. He said that didn’t appear to have happened in this case.

There are also rural crime watch groups across Saskatchewan that are working to keep an eye open and help police, Orb said. He said he’s going to look into whether there was an active group in the area, and check to see if the RCMP contacted them.

“That would have been the first place, you would think, that the RCMP would go to and say, ‘Be on the lookout for some suspicious activity. There has been a very severe crime that’s been committed in your area,’ ” said Orb.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore was scheduled to attend a SARM board meeting on Wednesday, and Orb said he intends to raise the association’s concerns.