Put down the gun and call the police. That message was repeated over and over by Saskatchewan RCMP on Thursday during a press conference to address rural property crime.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan RCMP address rural crime: ‘We don’t want the Wild West’
The problem is, rural residents say they can no longer count on police to respond quickly and are taking matters into their own hands by patrolling grid roads armed with firearms.
“Carrying guns in anticipation of or preparation for a confrontation isn’t safe for anyone and we don’t want anyone facing potential criminal investigations,” said Supt. Mike Gibbs, head of central district for RCMP.
There are no bones about it – crime in Saskatchewan’s country-side is on the rise.
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Since last year, Gibbs said there has been an increase in complaints in west-central Saskatchewan related to stolen property but he would not say just how many complaints were made.
“We know that people are feeling frustrated when their property is stolen, we understand that and don’t want to minimize it, but our first priority will always be responding to calls where people are in danger of being hurt or killed,” Gibbs said.
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RCMP said they don’t have target response times, there are simply too many variables and gone are the days when you could leave your keys in your vehicle or gas tanks unlocked.
“What isn’t gone is how we look after one another,” Gibbs added.
“Keep an eye out for your property and your neighbours but do it within the boundaries of the law.”
Over the last two years, inquiries to Reed Security have gone up 25 per cent from both cabin owners and farmers.
“Probably the biggest concern would be theft of fuel, some of those fuel tanks could cost up to $2,500 to fill,” said Virgil Reed, founder and CEO of Reed Security.
“With our strategies, it’s normally layers of security, so it’s not just one particular solution.”
A home security system would be the first step in protecting your property and as long as you have high-speed internet, you can see what’s happening on the home front.
Not only can a farmer and police be notified in the event of a crime, Reed said neighbours in the surrounding area can receive an alert as well. Technology has come a long way in terms of the quality of images picked up by security cameras.
“With high-definition cameras the details are 26 times the quality of standard definition so we can really get some crystal clear pictures for the police when we need it.”
The footage is then stored on hard drives for two weeks to a month, and farmers can monitor their yards from a smartphone while on the tractor.
“If you want to kick it up a notch, there’s new technology – smart cameras,” Reed said.
“It has all the same features as our high-definition cameras the added bonus is it has a video analytic so it will actually look for a person or a vehicle so it will ignore everything else but a person or a vehicle. In fact, it will draw a box around the person and will follow the person.”
READ MORE: RCMP urges Sask. farmers to not take matters into own hands over property crimes
Any vehicle or person who enters your yard will be zeroed in on, triggering an alert.
“Criminals are not that sophisticated, they may or may not be aware of the smart camera technology,” Reed said.
“Often they figure if they cover up their face the camera can’t catch you anyways – with the smart camera option it’s notifies the farmer and the police – somebody will catch you.”
Providing rural residents with that peace of mind that attracted them to the farm in the first place.
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