Law efforts have been particularly rewarding this past month. Calgary Police and the RCMP broke up a Calgary crime ring that had also operated in the Priddis and Millarville area. That had an immediate effect on break-and-enters here. Police recovered 1.3 million dollars’ worth of stolen property, including forty-seven vehicles, along with bobcats, ATVs, trailers, tools and generators. For further information, including pictures and names of the accused (see press release here).
Turner Valley RCMP Corporal Tiffany McGregor reported to us that they recovered four stolen trucks, a camper, a snowmobile, and two trailers from a rural property in Millarville, AB. Charges are pending, and a media release has also gone out. The investigation started when a homeowner called the police about a suspicious person on his property. To see details of what happened, along with photographs click here.
The police were able to do that because of the High Country Rural Crime Watch Association mantra of O–R–R: Observe what is suspicious activity in your neighborhood, Record what you see: licence numbers, descriptions, locations, activity, anything that could help the police, and Report what you saw to the police. That is of great benefit to their efforts to reduce property crime in our area, and that is what a homeowner did.
We do not know if the anonymous homeowner above was a member of the High Country Rural Crime Watch Association, but we know of a similar situation involving one of our members, and it led to the same result: arrest and conviction. In brief, one of our members saw a theft in progress where thieves were loading items from a house into a truck. Our member phoned the Turner Valley RCMP which arrived in time to arrest the thieves. The moral: Just think of O–R-R when you see something suspicious.
We also heard about a recent discouraging event. Apparently around 9:50 a.m. on a Monday morning a herd of elk wandered onto a farmer’s field in our area. Several vehicles had pulled over in the ditches to watch the spectacle. Then someone began shooting at the herd from a green truck in the ditch. Puffs of smoke from the truck window were visible. The herd ran and circled around in the field while traffic driving past was forced to slow down quickly as it encountered all the gawking, stopped traffic.
We cannot confirm this, but we believe that at least one driver passing by phoned the “Report a Poacher” line at 1 (800) 642-7112, but the person did not have the chance to read the licence number of the truck. Another driver passing the scene told us that the “hunters” went out on the field to tag the elk they had killed. It was certainly a cowardly act. It takes no hunting skill to kill an elk in a large herd. They also broke the law: no one may shoot a gun from inside a vehicle, If you or any of your friends see any illegal hunting, phone the Report a Poacher number above.
Since we will probably not be in contact with each other before the end of Christmas, on behalf of the entire High Country Rural Crime Watch Association we wish you a good holiday season and a wonderful new year.
J.R.
John Robin Allen
Membership Coordinator
High Country Rural Crime Watch Association
P.O. Box 982, Turner Valley, Alberta T0L 2A0
Phone: (403) 931-2407
Web page: hcrcwa.ca
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A special Thank You to Legacy Oil & Gas Inc. for its financial support!