It was good news this week when the City of Airdrie heard it would be receiving $1 million from the federal government to help address youth crime and violence in in the municipality.
While we do not have the gang problems other nearby jurisdictions have, the Airdrie RCMP has been sounding the alarm about the increase in youth crime in the city over the past few years. Insp. Lauren Weare district commander for Airdrie RCMP cited youth crime as a major concern at last year’s Airdrie RCMP Town Hall, following a sharp increase in these statistics between 2021 and 2023.
Earlier this year, Airdrie residents were shocked by a bear spray incident perpetrated by a local youth at middle school in town. A recent armed robbery at a 7-11 in Luxstone alleged the perpetrator was a local youth.
A high profile murder case in 2022 featured a local youth killing his mother while in the throes of a psychotic episode. These are merely the high profile cases. There have been others which have gone below the media’s radar as well.
The old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
It is good to see these significant funds will be going toward programs in our community targeting at-risk youth and working with schools to ensure these youth are turned in a better direction before heading down a more self-destructive path.
Mayor Peter Brown said it best when he stated:
“We have one of the lowest crime severity indexes among cities across the country, not just in Alberta,” he said. “Our goal is to continue to keep gun and gang violence out of Airdrie through early intervention against bullying. Bullying isn’t gun and gang violence but we recognize that when it escalates it can lead to increased risks for vulnerable youth.”
