Justice Minister Gordon Wyant announced the creation of the Protection and Response Team (PRT) aimed at lowering crime in rural Saskatchewan Tuesday morning.
The PRT will be made up of 120 police officers from RCMP detachments and municipal police services, 40 Ministry of Highways commercial vehicle enforcement officers (CVEO) and 98 conservation officers. Thirty new police positions are also being created.
The goal is to have whichever PRT member is closest to a call, such as a break and enter, respond first.
“If there’s a car very close, why wouldn’t we get closest response rather than trying to call somebody out and have a delayed response,” deputy justice minister Dale McFee said.
Training for the PRT will be provided to all officers joining the team, regardless of previous positions or current designations. The RCMP officials are prepared to address issues that may come up in the new program.
“I’m sure there’ll be some degree of growing pain as we move forward, but ultimately what will be important as we move forward is the training that’s going to be given to the resources as part of this project,” assistant commissioner Curtis Zablocki said.
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Goals of the PRT include improving safety on Saskatchewan roads by decreasing the number of serious accidents, enhancing uniform visibility in rural Saskatchewan, improving the response to calls for services and cracking down on drug trafficking on Saskatchewan roadways.
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Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Ray Orb said concern about these, and other issues, has been growing among his membership over the past year. Orb is optimistic about the retraining of CVEOs and conservation officers.
“The officers are very good at responding and looking at the problems in the RM, and I think we’d be happy to look at that and see how they could be retrained,” Orb said.
“Maybe it is a good fit.”
The Caucus Committee on Crime Reduction’s report states on urban area saw a more than 1300 per cent increase in methamphetamine related incidents between 2012 and 2016. Police in Regina and Moose Jaw have identified meth as a problem drug in their respective communities. Chief Evan Bray is hopeful this new integrated approach will lead to positive results.
“Quite often crime doesn’t know that boundary, so what happens on the outside area around Regina affects us, and vice versa,” Bray said.
A total of $5.9 million will be given to the PRT, with $4.9 million coming from SGI and $1 million coming from the Ministry of Justice to address any recommendations.
“There’s lots of practices in rural Saskatchewan that could be changed that would assist in deterring crime on particular pieces of property,” Wyant said Tuesday.
“We’re going to continue to have those kinds of discussions not only with SARM as a partner, but with individuals in the community.”
Other initiatives the ministry will be undertaking include assisting the in the creation of rural crime watch programs and a First Nations led Aboriginal gang strategy.
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