The MD of Bonnyville has been denied a provincial grant to start up a rural crime prevention program, but that doesn’t mean the project is a no-go.
Public Safety Director Chris Garner informed Council of the news at Wednesday’s meeting, having sent out the application all the way back in October. However, he also added that they had done some contingency planning. Rural Alberta is the lowest priority in crime watch funding so this was a likely outcome. Garner says the department has looked into what parts of the program they could start doing without funding.
Garner informed council of the most important aspects to focus on, such as funding a rural crime watch with a designated crime prevention officer, programming to educate rural residents and farmers on how they can prevent crimes, doing crime prevention assessments on properties, and increased presence in target prone areas along with patrols of properties where the residents are away.
Garner said most of these initiatives could be started within the existing budget. However, an increased need for funding is not out of the question.