NORTH BATTLEFORD - Battlefords RCMP Commander Insp. Jesse Gilbert sat down with Â鶹´«Ã½AV recently to reflect on the past year for the RCMP and look at plans ahead for 2025.
Looking at some of the RCMP's achievements in tackling crime in 2024, Gilbert said the RCMP have taken a proactive approach, which is reflected in its latest statistics.
Criminal code offences, including persons crime and property crime in North Battleford, has declined in the latest year-to-date numbers. In 2024, from January to December, there was an eight per cent decrease in total reports for these offences compared to 2023. For property crime alone, there was an eleven per cent decrease in numbers in 2024.
The Town of Battleford also saw numbers drop from January to December in 2024, with a decrease of 16 per cent in total criminal code offences and a drop of 15 per cent in property crime offences.
"We were anticipating relatively good numbers," Gilbert said. "We're looking at pretty decent reductions overall, for the town, the rural and the city."
He added there was also a reduction in calls for firearms offences, as another positive.
"I'm very, very happy with the numbers for 2024," he said. "The members did a lot of work for proactive policing, so I was hoping it would pay off down the road, and it looks like it has. So, I'm quite pleased with the work they have done."
Looking at the past year, Gilbert said some of the achievements for the Battlefords RCMP include tackling firearms offences.
"In crime, what we tried to do over the last year was [make a shift] in doing a much more proactive role in dealing with crime," he said. "We tried to up our curfew checks; we tried to increase motor vehicle stops, which did result in firearms seizures. The Gang Task Force did a lot of work obviously on the gang side and the drug side. You can never say that that gun we seized would have been used in an offence later on. We can never know that, but the fact that they [officers] did so much work proactively stopped vehicles, got more guns than usual, did the curfew checks, and our warrant apprehensions were up over the last year [helped make a difference]."
He added that now the RCMP are seeing the reduction in crime stat numbers as a result.
"I do believe that they are linked," Gilbert said. "I'm very proud of the members in the work they did for crime prevention on that proactive side."
On the community involvement side, the RCMP were also very active.
In December, RCMP members focused on taking part in the Cram the Cruiser event, to raise donations for the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre food bank drive over the Christmas holidays.
"This year was $14,000 worth of food and cash [raised]," Gilbert said. "I'm very impressed with that. That obviously made an impact on local families. That was multiple members taking part in the work, set up at three different locations. I'm very proud of their work on that end."
CTA accomplishments
Gilbert also discussed the RCMP's efforts to try to build relationships with the communities, and the First Nations.
"Our Community Tripartite Agreement [CTA] members that work on the reserves, our Indigenous policing members, they were very committed over the last year in working with the First Nations," Gilbert said. "They were recognized by Sweetgrass [First Nation] and by the FSIN [Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations] for their work with security on Sweetgrass. They were presented with Star Blankets and recognized individually. That was a really big achievement for them. All the work was done by them, so they deserve all the credit for it."
He noted that three members in the last year were recognized with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Award, which was a show of honour for their achievements.
Gilbert added that he was honoured this past year also for his service. He was appointed to the Order of Merit of the Police Forces after over 19 years with the RCMP.
"It was quite a year," he said.
The year 2024 also had its challenges, however, notably filling vacancies with the local RCMP.
"I honestly feel the biggest challenge we have had are staffing related," Gilbert said. "But we are not in a unique position for that. It's like that across the country for the RCMP. But I think with those challenges, that amplifies the work that they [officers] have done. Despite the challenges we've had with staffing and despite shortages, they were still extremely committed, dedicated and were able to make a change in the numbers [crime statistics]. Kudos goes to them."
He did note that officers who have served with the Battlefords RCMP detachment in the past are often eager to come back because they enjoy the community, as a positive.
Gilbert mentioned that staffing has a toll on mental health for the officers too.
"The members are very committed and they want to be there to do the job, but the shorter that you run [staffing], the harder it is to step away to get help," he said. "Because you don't want to leave your teammates there, struggling with the higher work-load."
Gilbert said the RCMP don't want the members to burn out, so it is cognizant of the time officers put in on the job.
"Internally, we've been really engaged in trying to get members the resources they need," he said. "One example of that is when we have fairly significant traumatic events... [experts] come in to do de-briefing with them afterwards [for mental health support]. That's really important to do, and not neglect."
For 2025, Gilbert said the RCMP have lots of plans ahead.
"I would definitely like to build on what we have now," he said. "I would like to see the proactive stuff engaged, even step it up to another level. Especially since we can show that we've dedicated a year to doing it... Now that we have some data for that, we can push even harder."
As far as projects go, Gilbert noted the new RCMP building, located across the road from the current detachment building, that formerly housed a liquor mart, will start to see more development. The second building, which is being renovated with funding from the province, will provide more space for RCMP members to work.
"We have a lot of [specialized] RCMP [units] that are working here [at the current detachment building] that aren't necessarily working for the city," he said. "When this building was built, it wasn't designed for these other units. So, we're bursting a little bit at the seams here. So, [the new building] will help us a lot."
Gilbert added the Battlefords RCMP will also see some growth with the second Crime Reduction Team (CRT) unit starting this year, when it is staffed. The CRT is provincially funded. They will be housed at the new RCMP detachment building.
"Once we can get more people in that building and free up space here, I think there are other things we can then start trying to attract to the area," Gilbert said.
