SARM meets with head of Sask. RCMP to discuss lack of rural crime alerts

A meeting with the commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP couldn’t have come at a better time for members of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM).

The pre-scheduled meeting with Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore came with last week’s events south of Esterhazy fresh in everyone’s minds.

A 34-year-old man was shot to death and a woman was injured after three people broke into a house. The three suspects have yet to be found.

After the incident happened, the RCMP put out a media release, but it didn’t send out a warning to people in nearby communities to take shelter or lock their doors.

People were left in the dark and some didn’t even know the incident had happened.

Speaking to Blackmore on Wednesday, SARM president Ray Orb said the organization’s message to her was clear.

“We have lots of tools available. We have Saskatchewan Rural Crime Watch out there and we have (the app) Everbridge that’s been developed,” he said. “All we’re asking is that the RCMP would notify people that something has happened in the area and be on the lookout.”

Orb felt Blackmore was receptive to SARM’s comments and agreed there needs to be more communication between the RCMP and rural municipalities.

“I think the assistant commissioner is aware (of the lack of communication) and it’s obvious that she was concerned about that as well and that they would (look) to improve that in the future. Of course, we can’t go back now,” Orb explained.

“Rural people feel a bit isolated because they don’t always necessarily know what’s going on. You just need to bring them up to speed. To us, communications is a key and Rhonda Blackmore agreed with that, but we need to step up that communications program.”

Blackmore couldn’t give the SARM delegates an update on the suspects.

As for the rest of their meeting, SARM officials also talked to Blackmore about the importance of recruiting and retaining RCMP officers in rural areas.