Moving to St. Albert from Swift Current, I notice how the RCMP is tight-fisted, almost begrudging news releases to the Gazette. Yet the RCMP in Swift Current release all facts from cases their RCMP officers worked on. Yes in Swift Current RCMP release to all media, that being the local paper and radio stations, details in their monthly incident report and describe the events to put the listeners and readers at ease. The RCMP there even tell the community readers and those listeners on the radio how many tickets the RCMP write each month.
But here in St. Albert there is no substance – just talking points released. For example there was a fight on Everitt Drive and two men were sent to hospital and one charged. What was the cause of this attack? Should we the residents not know if this was a targeted attack – is the community at risk? Either the Gazette never had any follow-up questions or the RCMP are not community policing anymore. Yes, we do have the right to know. It will not affect the trial if they tell us more details. Look how much we learned of the of the attack by the man in the U-Haul truck in Edmonton. The local RCMP should give us more details in their crime reports.
Why are we not getting monthly ticket stats issued by the St. Albert RCMP listed in the Gazette? There are 60 RCMP officers that our tax dollars in St. Albert pay for. It is fair and transparent for the RCMP to list the tickets issued. These tickets should not include the Sheriff or By-Law officer tickets, just the RCMP tickets.
The tickets issued by the By-Law members should be listed on their own.
We are entitled to these facts. We are residents who pay a lot for the service of the RCMP and By-Law enforcement.Why are these stats not being produced for the community to read? The RCMP are not giving us a feeling of being a community-based policing by withholding facts.
Terry Vonn, St. Albert
