Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads

Rural RCMP detachments across the province have been mandated to hold town hall meetings and town halls in the region have either been held or will be held.

The Kindersley RCMP detachment is holding a series of town hall meetings in its three main communities, but anybody from the area could attend. The detachment held town halls near the end of February and in March, but the detachment has decided to hold another set of town halls this month.

In the detachment area, the town hall meetings will be held on Nov. 5 in Kindersley at the Elks Hall, on Nov. 14 in Kerrobert at the Prairieland Community Centre and on Nov. 15 at the AGT Community Centre in Eston. All of the meetings start at 7 p.m.

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Other detachments in the west central region have either held town halls or will be holding them this month. The Leader RCMP held meetings in October and the Kyle RCMP is linked to the Swift Current Rural RCMP, and a town hall was held in Kyle in the spring. Swift Current Rural RCMP held a town hall last night in Gull Lake.

The RCMP detachment for Macklin, Unity and Wilkie is holding a town hall on Nov. 21 at the Saskcan Hall in Wilkie starting at 7 p.m. The Rosetown RCMP held a town hall in Rosetown last spring. Sgt. Jason Waldner of the Rosetown RCMP will be at the Elrose Memorial Hall on Nov. 15 to hold a town hall during a previously scheduled community meeting, but Waldner said it is part of a strategy to hold town halls in nearby communities.

The Kindersley detachment held a town hall in conjunction with the Town of Kindersley in February, but the meeting was advertised as an opportunity for people in the community to speak up about cannabis legalization.

While town officials wanted to discuss cannabis and related topics, the local RCMP detachment wanted to present its priorities for the current operational year. The priorities included crime reduction and prevention strategies, and traffic safety strategies.

The Kindersley detachment is promoting the town hall meeting as an opportunity for citizens to discuss community policing, ongoing crime prevention and reduction initiatives, and share their concerns in regards to crime or policing in Kindersley and the surrounding area.

Cpl. Marc Durocher is posted at the detachment’s satellite office in Kerrobert, but he also spends a lot of time in Kindersley. Durocher is one of three corporals in the Kindersley RCMP and he said the detachment’s commanding officers including Staff Sergeant Ray Blais will be on hand for the town hall meetings.

He noted that rural detachments have received orders from RCMP officials to hold town hall meetings, so the detachment must hold them because they are mandatory. The corporal said the meetings are an opportunity for people to ask questions, and also to provide feedback to local officials.

“I’m not sure what the main discussions will be, but it will be open to the floor,” Durocher said, noting that it is a chance for people to have face time with commanding officers and ask questions of the officers in person. “Everyone is welcome.”

He said the police know what is going on in the detachment area, so he does not expect any surprises. Still, he recognized that the feedback is important to the detachment. People who live in rural areas and surrounding communities could also attend any of the upcoming meetings, he added.

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