By Derek Cornet

New system coming to inform residents about criminal activity

Jan 15, 2019 | 4:00 PM

Residents of northern Saskatchewan will soon have a new tool to track crime trends and ongoing criminal activity in their region.

At an information session held this morning at La Ronge’s Kikinahk Friendship Centre, RCMP Cpl. Mel Zurevinsky said the provincial government will announce the rollout of the Everbridge system in about a month from now. He stated Everbridge will only be available to residents of southern Saskatchewan at first, but should be extended to northerners by summer 2019 at the latest. Zurevinsky noted the province believes the system will be popular and expects 100,000 people will join.

“The province recognizes crime in rural areas is on the rise and people want something done about it,” he said. “This program is quite unbelievable. It will be immense for police and rural crime watches throughout the province.”

The Everbridge system will serve two main purposes as it will be used for internal and public communications. Internally, an RCMP detachment commander will be able to log in to the system and view what resources nearby detachments have available. For example, Zurevinsky said if a staff sergeant is in need of a group of officers to secure a crime scene, a message will be sent out for assistance and remain active until the required number of officers needed is met.

The public part of Everbridge includes residents signing up for alerts either via email, text message or landlines. He noted the public will be able to view data on crime trends, people to watch out for and criminal activity in their area. RCMP will also use the system to let residents know what areas to avoid if there’s an ongoing situation.

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“The province said when we meet 25,000 people for the program, it will start expanding into the rest of the province,” Zurevinsky said.

Zurevinsky also threw his support behind rural crime watch groups and Citizens on Patrol Programs (COPP). He recommended residents begin such initiatives in their community if one doesn’t exist already, Since he’s been doing presentations since 2016, Zurevinsky said there are about 120 more rural crime groups and 10 more COPPs.

Air Ronge Deputy-Mayor Julie Baschuk attended the meeting and said she was happy to hear Zurevinsky speak so positively about COPPs and local WhatsApp groups. She stated only three people joined the tri-community’s COPP group when she put a call out for volunteers two weeks ago, adding residents are still welcome to join.

“Sometimes when there’s an outside voice coming into the community to promote these different initiatives, I think it gives people a sense that there is value and importance behind them and they are legitimate initiatives,” Baschuk said. “Hopefully, we can build the momentum and have people sign up and be part of it.”

Zurevinsky will be hosting a second meeting open to the public tonight at 6 p.m. at the Kikinahk.
 

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno