RCMP looks for ways to prevent crimes as Sask. killing stats climb

As violent crime increases in rural parts of the province, the Saskatchewan RCMP is trying to find time and resources for officers to invest in preventing crime — not just responding to it.

Earlier this week, the Saskatchewan RCMP reported a 50 per cent increase in murder and manslaughter rates over the past five years.

Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, the commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP, broke that statistic down more for Evan Bray on Friday.

According to Blackmore, about 44 per cent of the people who committed a murder or manslaughter between 2019 and 2023 were in the community on conditions, bail or parole at the time of the offence.

“(It’s) incredibly frustrating when we have individuals who have already committed serious crimes and are back on the street and able to commit further crimes,” she told Bray.

Another common theme was the interwoven presence of domestic violence and drugs in files, especially serious crimes. Blackmore said officers are continuing to see increased drug use and increased gang activity, which has been trending upwards for the past three years.

“It’s very concerning,” Blackmore said, adding that gangs, drug use and trafficking are often associated together, and can lead to violence, retribution and attacks.

Addictions and mental health issues are also increasing, Blackmore said, calling those a “root cause” of many of the slayings the RCMP is investigating.

Bail reform

Blackmore says while changes are being made to bail reform in Canada, she hopes to see more done to limit the ability of people reoffending.

“It is a good start, (it’s) encouraging, and we’re hoping that it does keep some of those offenders unable to walk on the streets,” Blackmore said.

While tougher bail restrictions would keep more people in prison, Blackmore said it also would prevent people who have already committed a crime from doing so again, especially before they are tried by the criminal justice system for that offence.

“Quite frankly, some of these indiviudals are just intent on doing harm in our community and when they’re out there, they continue to be those prolific offenders who drive many of these crime rates up and continue to reoffend,” she said.

Bray noted clearance rates for the Saskatchewan RCMP are fairly high, which Blackmore clarified to be an 84 per cent solve rate for murder and manslaughter cases.

Ultimately, she said officers want to see 100 per cent clearance to bring closure to the families of victims.

“If we had no victims, that would be fabulous. We’re never going to get to zero on victims of crime but certainly it is something we want to achieve,” Blackmore said.

Solutions

Bray asked Blackmore what more can be done about violent crime. She said she thinks things need to be looked at a bit differently.

“If we’re going to try and prevent victims from becoming victims of crime, we need to be able to prevent that crime,” she explained.

Blackmore would like to see addictions, mental health and gang issues addressed first as a means of stopping crime before it happens.

Proactive police work should account for 30 to 35 per cent of an officer’s time, according to Blackmore. That sort of work has officers out in the community, patrolling and offering a physical presence to help deter crime.

However, she noted that dramatically increased workloads for detectives over the past few years mean about a third of her detachments have workloads that don’t allow for any proactive police work at present.

Blackmore said officers are needed to be out doing patrols with the appropriate resources to do so, but even with the introduction of the new Saskatchewan Marshals Service, she isn’t sure frontline workers will be able to accomplish all that is needed.

The assistant commissioner said requests have been made for the RCMP to receive more funding and resources from the province to address some of its shortfalls. Blackmore said her force is also working hard to make improvements without additional officers and funding.

“How can we make better use of our members’ time so we can free it up for some of that proactive work?” she said.

Efforts like complete reviews of shift schedules — to ensure people are working during times when calls for service are especially high — and engaging technology like unmanned aerial vehicles are ways she said the organization is working to become more efficient with calls.

Blackmore said all 79 detachments in Saskatchewan are going to be equipped with UAVs.

Recent rural crime

With several thefts of ATMs in rural Saskatchewan in the past month, Bray asked Blackmore whether those crimes might be related.

It’s the question Blackmore said an investigative task force has been assembled to answer, consisting of specialized RCMP members, frontline and crime members, analysts and the Alberta RCMP.

Various pieces of evidence, including stolen and abandoned vehicles and a recovered ATM, have been tied to Alberta.

Presently, Blackmore said the task force is working to figure out whether the crimes are the doings of one group of people or multiple groups.

Other forms of crime in the past several weeks have included several break-ins in the Wadena area and a break-and-enter at a Saskatchewan church around Christmas.

Blackmore called the latter crime “unfortunate” and thinks these sorts of offences speak to a possible loss of values in society.

“(It’s) unthinkable to have a church on Christmas Day vandalized, broken into (and) have items stolen,” she said. “You question the value of … stealing candles and candle holders.”

She noted that historically, a small number of criminals tends to be responsible for the offences making up the bigger crime statistics.

“When you see incidents of multiple break-and-enters occurring, very often they are related to several individuals or several groups of individuals,” Blackmore said.