Impaired driving tops the list of priorities residents in Cold Lake would like to see the RCMP focus on for the coming year.
Cutting down on the number of drunk drivers roaming the streets was mentioned by 63 per cent of the 920 people who responded to a recent survey sent out by the local police force.
“It is a type of crime that is very reported on,” said S/Sgt. Jeremie Landry. “Since arriving here I've gotten the impression from the general public that they feel there is a lot of impaired driving in the area, which I think is why it came out on top.”
Major property crime, such and break and enters, vehicle thefts and general theft over $5,000 was a close second on the list with 60 per cent of responders feeling it should be among the RCMP's top priorities. Drug related crimes, including drug possession and trafficking rounded out the top three, with 52 per cent of the public feeling it was a priority.
“They are almost directly in line with our priorities right now,” said Landry, who mentioned that traffic enforcement, including impaired driving, along with cracking down on illegal drugs and educating youth are among the RCMP's current priorities.
Minor property crime and family violence issues, traffic enforcement and community engagement rounded out the survey each garnering less than 35 per cent of the overall vote.
Over the next few days Landry will be thoroughly reviewing all of the responses and comments as he works to develop the next set of priorities for the department.
“I will be compiling that with information I have received from the many councils in our area, coming up with four or five priorities to focus on and coming up with initiatives on how we are going to go about those priorities,” said Landry.
Overall the survey received responses from a wide range of residents, genders and occupations, which only adds to the strength of the results.
The majority of the responses, 622, came from City of Cold Lake residents, while 255 were from MD residents, 22 were from those on the Elizabeth Métis Settlement, and 19 were from Cold Lake First Nations. Of these responders 588 were female, 303 were male, seven identified as transgender and 20 chose not to identify their gender.
The responses also came from a large cross section of jobs with those in the agriculture, healthcare, government, oil industry, business community and the unemployed responding.
“Depending on your type of employment or background your priorities might not be the same as someone else,” said Landry. “If we can get a good cross section coming forward then we can see whether or not our priorities are lining up with the majority. It just gives us more to work with.”
The Cold Lake RCMP will be working on finalizing their priorities for the 2016-17 year, which starts April 1 and runs until March 31, 2017. These priorities will be set in the coming weeks.
