ST. PAUL – Addressing property crime was a big focus for the St. Paul RCMP detachment in 2024, according to detachment commander Dennis Silliker, during a year-in-review of the detachment with Lakeland This Week.
Since becoming the St. Paul RCMP’s new detachment commander in July 2024, property crime “was an issue raised to me,” said Silliker, referring to community engagement efforts the RCMP conducted last year, including a town hall held in November.
“And we talk about being proactive,” dealing with the issue, he added. “[The bait program] is one of our efforts to try to be proactive.”
The bait program involves items that could be tracked by the RCMP via global positioning system (GPS), explained Silliker. “If an individual steals that item . . . we can just track it via GPS . . . and make those necessary arrests.”
Strategies like the bait program have allowed the detachment to conduct multiple arrests and seizures in 2024, said Silliker.
“It’s very effective.”
However, measuring the wide-reaching effects of proactive enforcement is difficult, acknowledged Silliker. But that’s the point of proactive enforcement, he said. The rationale is to be “proactive before crimes occur.”
“It's actually not possible to really identify how much crime we’ve deterred by the actions we’ve taken,” but it is possible to measure in some way, he said.
For example, controlled drugs and substances contribute to increased property and violent crimes This means proactive enforcement could involve conducting drug trafficking investigations. The rationale is addressing the root causes of a problem, he explained.
“Just recently . . . an investigation collaborated between,” multiple RCMP and law enforcement units including the St. Paul detachment, led to the seizure of “massive amount of controlled drugs and substances from our community,” said Silliker.
Silliker referred to the drug trafficking investigation in the City of Cold Lake, initiated by the Cold Lake General Investigations Section (GIS) in mid-2024, which ultimately led to the arrest of two individuals, as well as seizure of significant illegal drugs and unauthorized weaponry on Jan. 22.
“So, I can't measure the [amount of] crimes that didn't occur [due to proactive enforcement], but I know that we're having a massive impact on property crime and violent crimes that we so often see,” he said.
Momentum
Moving forward, Silliker said the detachment will continue its efforts to deal with property crimes, which does involve conducting drug trafficking investigations, and collaborating with other law enforcement units.
“We’ve done very well . . . we’ve got some excellent momentum going forward. [But] we’re not there yet. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’re chomping at the bit to get it done.”
Community engagement
Outside policing, Silliker said the detachment will also continue to engage with members of the community.
“There's a lot of things that we've been able to do this past 2024 that we want to continue to maximize in the future,” he said.
In 2024, community engagement efforts included Coffee with a Cop, which occurs every last Tuesday of the month, town halls, school visits, the annual RCMP Road Race, Cram-the-Cruiser food bank drive, and more.
This year, Silliker said the detachment plans to add more community engagement opportunities - like bringing the RCMP Musical Ride to St. Paul. The event is scheduled for late July and is being put on partnership with the St. Paul Ag Society.
The detachment also partnered with the St. Paul and District Arts Foundation for an upcoming project.
Asked why the detachment is going through the effort of engaging the community, Silliker said, “We can’t do this work on our own.”
“We can only do it when we have the confidence and trust from our community,” he said.
Silliker also believes a strong relationship with the community will lead to more opportunities to work together and determine priorities in the community.
The idea is that a strong relationship allows the RCMP to do the job it is mandated to do, said Silliker, which is, “Making St. Paul a safer community.”
“That’s truly . . . what we all want.”
