Each year, Kimberley RCMP representatives get together with various community stakeholders to come up with policing priorities in the City for the Annual Performance Plan. For the 2014/2015 year, four priorities were identified — road safety, crime reduction, family violence and organized crime.
Kimberley Operations NCO Cpl. Chris Newel presented results of the performance plan to City Council this week.
“Road safety encompasses a broad area; we focus on enforcement, education and awareness along with proactive initiatives such as road checks,” Newel said.
“Over the course of three months, officers initiated 144 traffic contacts and nine impaired drivers were taken off the road. Those can be the result of traffic stops, road checks or complaints made by the public.
“Our local Speed Watch volunteers are an integral part of the education and awareness with regard to traffic safety. During the 2014 season they set up for 140 hours on 34 separate occasions and 6700 vehicles passed through the checks. Less than 10 per cent were exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 kmh.
“Although raves typically take place outside city limits they may affect the residents of Kimberley. We take a pro-active approach if we learn of them prior to them taking place. In early October one was planned for the Ta Ta Creek area. Natural Resource officers learned it was on Crown land and were able to work with the organizers to move it. It was held on private property in the St. Mary’s Lake area. We conducted targeted enforcement throughout the weekend and had very few issues. It’s our understanding the RDEK has addressed some issues with respect land use and noise. The week after this there was another one in the same area which we didn’t know about and as such weren’t able to be proactive.
“Members are encouraged to conduct foot patrols and school visits as time permits. During the quarter members made formal and informal visits to the schools twenty five times. Foot patrols were made in the Platzl and Dynamiter Hockey games on twenty three occasions.”
Crime Reduction
Kimberley RCMP continues to monitor prolific offenders and those on court ordered conditions.
“We’ve been fortunate and this is not a high risk area,” Newel said. “We did a number of checks throughout the period but there were no issues.”
Drug Initiative
“Our combined Crime Reduction Unit has been very successful in targeting crime in both Cranbrook and Kimberley. Their primary focus is those involved in the drug trade but is utilized in other areas depending on the need. The team began in late November and was involved in five fairly major files in Cranbrook most of which involved the trafficking of drugs. Although the arrests and warrants often take place in Cranbrook, the investigators often find direct connections to Kimberley.”
Family Violence
We are still working with McKim Middle School to implement some sessions on family violence.
