RCMP touts success with crime-reduction push in Battlefords

At the start of 2023, the RCMP in the Battlefords launched a six-month pilot program aimed to disrupt criminal activity in the area.

The initiative is already seeing some success, the RCMP said in a statement Wednesday, and information gathered during the program in the Battlefords will ultimately help develop similar anti-crime pushes in other parts of Saskatchewan.

North Battleford was ranked as the worst city in Canada for crime in Statistics Canada’s most recent Crime Severity Index. The numbers for 2021 showed an 11.89 per cent increase over 2020, and the highest index numbers in five years for the city.

The RCMP said the new anti-crime initiative “focuses on increasing targeted criminal enforcement, supporting and enhancing relationships with communities of the Battlefords region and First Nations communities, and education/gang intervention.”

The program includes officers from several specialized police units, including the Saskatchewan Enforcement Response Team, the Combined Traffic Services Section, Indigenous Policing Services and the Battlefords Gang Task Force.

“A collaborative approach with our specialized units is necessary to help reduce the impact of criminal activity that has caused harm to the Battlefords region for far too long,” Insp. Jesse Gilbert, commanding officer of the Battlefords RCMP detachment, said in a statement.

“Our overall goal is to locate and arrest the individuals causing the most harm in our communities and to prevent illicit weapons and drugs that continue to threaten the safety of the people of the Battlefords.”

The RCMP said the six-month initiative has already resulted in some important busts in the area, including the Jan. 7 arrest of a man wanted in connection with a homicide investigation and the seizure of nearly eight kilograms of cocaine along with guns and more than $55,000 in cash on Feb. 2.

As of Monday, the RCMP said officers in North Battleford “have successfully executed over 100 warrants for arrest, laid 95 new Criminal Code charges (relating to firearms, persons crimes, vehicle, and property-related crimes), and laid 92 provincial charges.”

— With files from BattlefordsNOW