Eden COPP discusses recent crime spree

Details

Published on Friday, March 4, 2016

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

On Monday, Feb. 29, the Eden Citizens on Patrol Program (COPP) held a meeting at the Eden community hall. There were 21 in attendance, including some new faces interested in joining the program. The recent spree of crimes was the main topic discussed at the meeting.

RCMP officer, Sergeant Mark Morehouse, was at the meeting and explained a little bit about what’s been going on. He said that over the past few weeks, there have been nine different break and enter cases between Minnedosa and Riding Mountain. He also said that the night before the meeting, there had been reports of two suspicious vehicles driving around in the northern part of the RM of Rosedale. Quite often, perpetrators will drive around the area they’re targeting to scout out what places would be worth robbing.

The RCMP has been able to recover much of the stolen property, but quite often, it has been severely damaged. They recovered a snowmobile that was stolen just last week, a utility task vehicle (UTV) and two trucks, one of which had a motorcycle in the back. Morehouse said that generally, they find the stolen property in Sandy Bay. He said that the RCMP has four arrest warrants out and two of the suspects have been apprehended so far. 

Morehouse went on to explain what to look for, how to respond when you see something suspicious and how best to protect yourself and your property. He said that usually, the robbers act in groups of two or more. They often come at night and they have been known to break yard lights and vehicle lights to avoid being seen. They most often steal trucks, snowmobiles, UTVs, quads and other vehicle accessories. When nobody’s home, they sometimes break into the house and take liquor and food and, most recently, guns and tools.   

If anyone were to see something suspicious, they are asked to call the police. They can follow the suspects, if they wish, but never go alone and always keep a distance to make sure to not be noticed by the suspects.  Never follow without having called the police beforehand. 

To prevent property from being stolen, people are encouraged to lock everything up and make sure keys are not left in vehicles. Security systems are also helpful, but be wary of some of the promises the companies claim to make. Keep a record of serial numbers on guns and any markings on tools so that if they are stolen, the RCMP can track them down more easily. 

Morehouse said that the meeting attendance was higher than usual because more and more people are being hit. Citizens who have been hit, or know someone who has, want to do their part to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Morehouse said that they do have a full slate of people currently in the program, but there are a few who are moving out of the area soon, which will bring the numbers down. They are always open to taking more volunteers, the more they have, the better. If anyone wants to join COPP in the Eden area, they can contact Lois Graham, Eden’s COPP coordinator.

Graham said that anyone wanting to join has to undergo a security check, but it won’t cost anything because it is for a volunteer program. Once she has everyone’s names in, she makes up a schedule and volunteers generally will have one night a month, unless they want more. She said that volunteers can specify what night of the week would work best for them and she tries to build the schedule accordingly. If newcomers wanted training, Graham said that they would be able to schedule a meeting with a trainer who would teach the volunteers the basics. 

The next Eden COPP meeting is scheduled for March 22 at the Eden Community Hall at 7:30 pm. Anyone interested in joining and anyone who is already a part of the program are encouraged to attend.