RCMP Staff Sgt. Jerry Nutbrown brings you behind the scenes with a series of columns taking you behind police work and how it’s done in our community. If you have a question you think needs to be answered in Behind the Bison, send it to admin@borderpulse.ca and we will be sure to share it with him.
If you happen to be in the City of Lloydminster the week of July 14 you may have seen a number of law enforcement groups enforcing laws. This went well beyond traffic enforcement although that was part of it.
Virtually every illegal substance, firearm, stolen property, etc. will at some point be transported via a vehicle and often vehicle stops are when they are detected. Being stopped for not signalling or yes, for tint, can progress to criminal charges as criminals travel. This has been expressed a few times in this column.
Over 110 tickets were written and 180 traffic warnings issued. Contrary to the often focused on in social media ‘tint tickets’, only 4 of those were written. As some express a sensitivity online to tint tickets, I’m guessing they have added this on their vehicles, so I wanted to ensure I clarified that number for them.
Law abiding citizens generally aren’t impacted except for maybe having to navigate around stopped vehicles or maybe a blocked street if some other operation is under way. This week focused on criminals and others committing offenses and this has proven time and again to make a community safer. Full stop.
We were looking for not only active law breakers but also for those that had already broken laws and had warrants for arrest issued for them. We were leaving no stone unturned to locate some of our highflyers when it comes to repeat and serious crimes. Any pushback that we experience is typically from those that commit offenses/crimes and wish not to be engaged by law enforcement.
During this week, 52 arrest warrants were executed which is a fantastic number. There was also a number of new criminal charges laid but the mere presence of marked law enforcement vehicles made the city safer in numerous ways. Drivers adhere to road rules better and criminals hunker down and commit less crimes.
Participating in our week of crime suppression were the Saskatchewan Marshalls, Eastern Alberta Crime Reduction Unit, F Division Traffic Services, K Division RCMP Air Services and all units of the Lloydminster Detachment. We bring these other law enforcement groups or agencies into town for a comprehensive concentrated approach which results in crime reduction.
Air Services brought our RCMP helicopter to town and monitored a number of calls for service in addition to being available to attend incidents of vehicles fleeing from police and any other serious offenses by mobile law breakers and, at no additional cost to the city.
The suppression part of this comes from the overt law enforcement presence in the city which causes criminals to stay home more. Residents in the city began commenting early in the week about the enforcement vehicles all over the city. Unfortunately, many online rumours swirled with people commenting that they knew why there were so many officers in the city, but none were correct.
We will continue to conduct these unannounced operations because of the great benefits they provide the city residents.
Read more: Column: Behind the Bison – Evidence
