City of Airdrie officials as well as local and regional RCMP representatives held a well-attended town hall in City Hall's council chambers on Feb. 15 to discuss local policing matters.
Alongside Mayor Peter Brown and City of Airdrie director of Community Growth and Protective Services Kevin Weinberger, the Airdrie RCMP was represented by District Commander Insp. Lauren Weare, S-Sgt. Andrew Voxhall, who is in charge of Investigative and Community Services, S-Sgt. Troy Switzer, who is in charge of Operations, and Cpl. James McConnell, who is in charge of the Community Policing unit.
Southern Alberta RCMP command was represented by Superintendent Rick Jané.
According to police officials who were present at the town hall, the general trend in crime reports in Airdrie is upward, as local call numbers return to pre-COVID normals – with an alarming rise in youth criminality and sex offences, in particular.
But, as was emphasized repeatedly on Wednesday night, Airdrie still remains low as a whole on the Crime Severity Index (CSI) when compared to other mid-sized cities in Alberta, such as Grande Prairie and Lethbridge. The CSI is the national crime index, used to monitor crime rates in various sized municipalities across Canada on an annual basis.
Here is a summary of some of the issues discussed at the town hall:
Police staffing levels
Given the rising recent crime trend and rapid growth rate of Airdrie, a significant topic of conversation at the Feb. 15 town hall was the city’s police staffing levels, and whether the local RCMP detachment had enough police officers to deal with post-COVID crime pressures. Mayor Peter Brown was asked by one audience member why city council did not approve in its annual budget the addition of the three additional officers to meet these challenges as requested by the local RCMP last year.
Brown pointed to Airdrie’s relatively low Crime Severity Index rating in response.
“Your perception is that we are understaffed and we have this massive problem we need to deal with,” Brown stated. “I don’t know that’s the case, but our experts will tell council … We take the advice from our administration and from the experts sitting here today.”
Director Weinberger said the City has many staffing needs, and given the low CSI rating, administration believed the City’s limited tax dollars should be applied elsewhere in 2022-2023.
“This year, our administrative recommendation was not to approve the three positions requested by the RCMP, and it was based on many numbers that are trending down right now,” explained Weinberger. “As well as, we still invested in the RCMP and municipal enforcement in other areas such as equipment, safety equipment – things like that.”
Insp. Lauren Weare, who is district commander for Airdrie RCMP, admitted she was a “teeny bit disappointed” when her staffing request was not approved by City council last year. But, she informed those present at the town hall, the local detachment had managed to shift manpower resources to new areas of emerging crime trends, such as youth criminality and sex offences.
“This is a good community to live in,” she summarized. “We are pretty safe, but I am going to be asking for those resources next year. I feel fairly confident I will be successful next year.”
Mental health resources questioned
Attendees at the RCMP town hall on Feb. 15 also expressed their concerns about the number of dedicated officers specializing in mental health intervention. The Airdrie RCMP recently decided to realign its units to combine its Domestic Violence Unit with its Mental Health and Addictions Liaison Team (MHALT).
Some attendees at the town hall were concerned that by combining the two units, the focus on mental health – specifically diversion from arrests into alternate community resources – would be eroded.
S-Sgt. Voxhall responded this was simply untrue – the realignment of these two units into one would actually allow officers in those units to spend more time on mental health and addictions intervention and diversion in the community.
“Previously, our Mental Health unit comprised of two constables and one AHS mental health clinician,” he explained. “That clinician would work with our two constables 24 hours per week. By combining (this unit) with our Domestic Violence Unit, we are able to increase the number of police officers available to that clinician to address those two responsibilities of MHALT from two to four.
“This is a much more strategic and responsible way to use the resources we have available,” he added. “MHALT’s primary duties have not changed.”
Voxhall said, oftentimes, the underlying causes of domestic violence, addictions, and mental health crises arise from the same sources, and this combined team would be able to put in more hours and have a greater “footprint” in the community by working as one unit with the AHS clinician.
By way of example, he said officers in the unit would be able to go from putting in 320 hours if they only had two MHALT officers in February to 650 hours now with four.
He reminded audience members that MHALT was not intended to take the place of other community mental health resources.
“MHALT deals with people who are coming into regular (negative) contact with police or the justice system because of mental health and addictions’ issues,” he explained.
Police body-worn cameras coming to Airdrie
An audience member at the Feb. 15 town hall asked when the RCMP and Municipal Enforcement officers in Airdrie will begin outfitting officers with body cameras.
Lynn Mackenzie, team leader of Municipal Enforcement with the City of Airdrie, responded on behalf of her department.
“It was in the capital budget this year for the officers to get body-worn cameras,” she confirmed. “We do not have them yet.”
She went on the state the procedures for using the cameras would have to go through a privacy impact assessment prior to being deployed.
“So I don’t have all those answers for you,” Mackenzie explained, “because we actually haven’t started using them yet.”
Superintendent Jané said the local RCMP was already making ready to deploy the new body-worn cameras once they were cleared for use. He confirmed they were already being piloted in other communities in Alberta.
“We have started the infrastructure piece in Airdrie specifically,” he stated. “So that’s the wiring, the cloud-based platforms and everything … We anticipate within the next year, Airdrie will have them.”
Jané confirmed video footage from the cameras would be available for disclosure in court by defendants who requested them in the course of normal legal proceedings.
“If you are charged with an offence, you are entitled to disclosure,” he stated. “Part of that disclosure is the body-worn camera or the video from the (arresting officer’s) car.”
He said his officers were in full support of the cameras.
“We look forward to body-worn cameras and car cameras to show both sides of the story,” he stated.
