Greetings from Dave Schroeder, a Board Member of the HCRCWA. I am now starting to split duties with JR Allen with regard to the writing of this column as JR is gradually decreasing his involvement with the HCRCWA after nine years of tremendous and significant contributions to our rural crime watch association. I have also taken over the HCRCWA 403-931-2407 telephone line and the telephone fan out duties. Elizabeth Davis has generously agreed to assume the tedious task of membership coordination and the sending out of email notifications of criminal activity and HCRCWA updates.
JR would like me to state that, “No, he hasn’t died” despite queries to the contrary, and he will continue to be involved with the association and remains the “Grand Old Patriarch of HCRCWA”. Suzanne Oel continues as President.
Before I get into a short review of what the High Country Rural Crime Watch Association is, you need to be alerted to a Local Email Tax Scam. There was a FRAUD ATTEMPT on September 10 using a Foothills County Tax notice email demand! BEWARE not to follow the link and pay this way. It has come to the attention of Foothills County that a scam email impersonating Foothills County is demanding immediate tax payment via e-transfer. Foothills County does not request or accept e-transfers as a form of payment for taxes and will never demand payment. As taxes are due September 30, the fraudsters are getting through to people who unfortunately think it may be a legitimate request. This has been reported to the RCMP.
In addition to the email scam above, the RCMP Crime Map reported that in the 2 weeks to September 16, there have been 2 thefts of over $5,000, one in Turner Valley and one in Eden Valley. A few mischief incidents have occurred in Black Diamond and Turner Valley, but nothing else had been reported to Turner Valley RCMP. You can review what incidents have occurred within a rolling 14 day period yourself, by accessing the RCMP’s MD of Foothills Crime Map located at MD of Foothills Crime Map / Carte du Crime . You’ll have to agree to some terms and conditions, but it is an excellent way to keep up to date on the latest criminal activity in Foothills County.
The High Country Rural Crime Watch Association was re-established, after a hiatus, in 2010. Its mission is: “To safeguard people and property in all our rural communities through awareness, communications and education.”
Through the efforts of people like JR and Suzanne and a host of other volunteers, HCRCWA has been sending out crime incident notifications and other information such as guest speakers, workshops, and ways to protect you and your foothills property. I know everyone is busy, but the guest speakers and workshops are top notch and you will learn a lot of valuable and applicable information to make your life in the foothills easier and safer. You can even do cool things like practice deploying bear spray as an imitation bear comes charging toward you.
These events take place at iconic foothills locations such as the Millarville racetrack (in operation for well over 100 years), Priddis Community Hall (apparently the oldest active Hall in Alberta), and the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area to name but a few.
Other helpful notices that we have fanned out included daily updates on the McLean Creek Wildfire a year ago, very informative sessions for your water well and septic system put on by the provincial government, Bear Awareness & Bear Proofing your farm/ acreage sessions put on by the best bear specialists in the world, and a presentation by special guest, Kerry Sauvé, who gave a Saturday morning slideshow and talk on “How Not to be a Victim”. Attendees to this last meeting also received an e-book “StreetSafe 360°, a personal safety planning guide”.
HCRCWA now has roughly 800 member ID’s which, as a guess, include 2 to 3 individuals each. So that means there are roughly 2000 pairs of eyes in our area watching out for suspicious behavior. As Mr. Sauvé advises, “Don’t look for stereotypes; look for suspicious behaviour.” And when you see suspicious behaviour: Observe, Record and Report.
Dave Schroeder
