After a rash of break-ins in December 2014, Crossfield’s Citizen’s on Patrol (COP) group has amped up its efforts.
“There have been a number of break-ins in town over the last month or so,” Councillor James Ginter said. “A number of people have expressed interest in joining the COP as a result.”
Airdrie Rural RCMP – the body that polices the town of Crossfield — was unable to comment on the number of break-ins, which occurred in Crossfield in December 2014, though it confirmed that officers were called out to the area to investigate break-in reports. COP, a program which aims to provide community-based policing patrols and crime prevention, has been operating in Crossfield for some time but was absorbed by Airdrie’s chapter in April 2014, Airdrie Citizens on Patrol Society (ACOPS), because Crossfield doesn’t have enough members to have an independent patrol.
“We have four active members now, six who were looking to join,” Ginter said. “Once we get up around 10 members from Crossfield, we will branch off and have our own citizens on patrol again.” In order to become a COP, Ginter said residents undergo training, including getting RCMP security check and completing training and ride along with other COP members.
Social media policy
To help mitigate crime and share safety tips with residents of Crossfield, Mayor Nathan Anderson moved for administration to bring recommendation on social media best practices for the Town’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“Maybe this is an opportunity for us to educate through social media and bring awareness and bring our pages back up so we can add value,” said Councillor Hadi Feltham. In the meeting, Anderson said he wasn’t even sure if the Town had a social media policy, but said he’d like it to be used more often for general awareness — not just crime related topics.
“Social media can be helpful,” Anderson said. “But we need a plan going into it.” Currently, the Town is working with web developers to make it so updates to web content will be shared cross platform so residents stay informed as soon as changes are made.
Online bill payments Council is looking into purchasing an online payment function on its website that allows residents to pay bills online instead of through the mail. The software boost comes at a one-time cost of $16,000 and an annual maintenance fee of $1,200.
“That’s an extra cost (to our current software),” said Chief Administrative Officer Ken Bosman. “It’s obviously something we’re going to be discussing in the 2015 budget.”
Adding online payment acceptance on the website, Bosman said, is a question of when — not if.
“Can anybody imagine us in 10 years not accepting money online?” Bosman asked. “It’s easier for staff and easier for our ratepayers. It’s really a no-brainer so it’s just whether we fit it in this year or next.”
Though residents can already pay their utility bills online, the new online payment system will allow for tax payments and generalized ecommerce across the board. This will also give the Town access to ePosts, which allows for online bills instead of the Town mailing bills to each resident.
“This is really where the savings start piling up,” Bosman said. “It costs us about $2 to send out a mailed bill when it’s all said and done, multiply that by hundreds and hundreds of houses a month and it pays for itself pretty quick.”
Administration is still looking into the cost for this year’s budget. Currently no decision has been made about purchasing the added software.
