It’s like having a big gang of friends always keeping an eye out and watching your back. As the Sturgeon Rural Crime Watch Association celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, it is taking the opportunity to remind others to be vigilant about crime and mischief-makers.
Roger Nykipilo is the president of the association. He said that he first got involved with the group because of the changing face of the population density in and around Morinville over the last decade or so. The influx of new residents also brought a surge in some forms of crime.
“It seemed like you went from a sleepy part of the country and all of a sudden it wasn’t quite that sleepy,” he said. “There were break-ins and thefts and vandalism and stolen vehicles.”
The Crime Watch works closely with the RCMP and is partnered with Sturgeon County Protective Services. These relationships work both ways where authorities can provide alerts about stolen vehicles and the Watch’s members can feed the system with warnings about suspicious characters or activities.
It’s also hoping to expand its support base by sharing information with the garrison, since many of its members live in Morinville and the surrounding county.
“We thought it might be a good fit for us to supply the information of any criminal activity that’s going on anywhere in the county of Sturgeon.”
Nykipilo intends on accomplishing this by adopting technologies like e-mail and text fan-outs that can increase coverage and speed up awareness of breaking events, including helping to find missing people.
“We like to get the information in the hands of our neighbours. They’re the eyes and ears of our communities.”
There are about 800 members currently but Nykipilo remarked that that number could easily double in size if more people were aware of the group and wanted to work together to keep everybody and their property safe from criminal elements.
“The more people that are involved, the more effective we can become,” Nykipilo stated in a press release about the anniversary.
It also sponsors the Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE program that brings the local RCMP into schools to talk to the students about ways to combat drug abuse and violence.
The group’s 30th anniversary celebration takes place on May 4 at the Rendezvous Centre. Cocktails start at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner being served at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 and are available at Hunters Print and Copy, by calling 780-921-2359 or via email at [email protected].
Its next regular meeting is Tuesday, May 14, at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall in Morinville. That event includes its annual potluck supper.
Anyone interested in joining the organization can get information through the group's website at www.sturgeonruralcrimewatch.org, e-mail [email protected] or by calling Nykipilo at 780-691-1511.
