Video surveillance may be the ticket to catching criminals targeting the west side of Foothills County.
Turner Valley RCMP is appealing to home and business owners who’ve invested in security cameras to participate in the Community Assisted Policing Through Use of Recorded Devises (CAPTURE) program, spearheaded in Red Deer almost two years ago with 281 cameras now registered, which allows police access to their footage to assist in solving crimes like vandalism and theft.
“The technology is in place, it’s all ready to go,” said Staff Sgt. Laura Akitt. “Ultimately, anybody that has video surveillance that wants to join the CAPTURE program is invited to do so. It’s totally voluntary, no charge. The information is protected. It does not go out to the general public.”
Turner Valley Mayor Barry Crane had requested a notice of motion to his council a year ago to explore bringing the program to the community to not only assist RCMP in capturing criminals, but deter criminals from targeting the area.
“I brought this forward to council for consideration because we have seen, in the last few years, criminals come into our towns from Calgary and rummage through our vehicles and break into our garages,” he told council in March 2020. “We need to armour ourselves against criminals of this nature.”
Akitt said video surveillance is handy in capturing images of potential suspects and suspect vehicles when crimes are committed.
“If we have an investigation or something going on in a certain area, it may not directly impact an individual, but if we know a suspect was on a certain route and we know some people would have video along this route, it will assist in our investigation,” she said. “It’s another tool to broaden our investigational avenue. People can sometimes outrun and hide from police, but they can’t hide from video.”
The staff sergeant would ideally like all home and business owners with surveillance cameras in Black Diamond, Longview, Turner Valley and the surrounding Foothills County to sign up.
“The success of the program is a direct link to community involvement,” she said. “In order to have a community initiative be successful, you need to have community involvement. Having that quick access and knowledge of the video is going to be extremely beneficial for us in moving forward to tackle property theft this fiscal year.”
To determine the public’s stance on crime and police service, the Turner Valley detachment posted an online survey on the Black Diamond, Foothills County, Longview and Turner Valley town websites to gather public opinion on community policing and safety concerns.
Property crime, traffic and lacking police presence and visibility placed top three amongst the 203 respondents’ concerns. Akitt said all have become objectives in the detachment’s 2020-21 fiscal year’s Annual Performance Plan. The fiscal year runs April 1 to March 31.
In addition to the CAPTURE program, the performance plan will have officers target enforcement in high traffic areas this spring and summer, Akitt said.
“The Turner Valley area is a beautiful area and everyone loves to come out that way and utilize the roadways,” she said.
The detachment is also exploring ways to increase police presence and visibility in the community, a task that has proven challenging with ongoing restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic that’s resulted in visitor restrictions in schools and the cancellation of numerous community events.
“One of the biggest things I realized with COVID is I wasn’t able to engage with the community in the manner in which I wanted to,” she said. “I wasn’t able to have those personal one-on-one type conversations with individuals.”
To help bridge the gap of police presence in the community, the detachment established a publication called Mountie Minutes, which is available on the Black Diamond, Foothills County, Longview and Turner Valley town websites.
The weekly newsletter contains details about crimes, complaints and investigations local police responded to the previous week. Readers are encouraged to email any questions they may have to kfoothillsengagement@rcmp/grc.gc.ca.
For more details about the CAPTURE program, or to sign up, visit www.foothillscapture.ca
