The Benalto and Area Rural Crime Watch Society (BARCWS) continued its advocacy of crime prevention and awareness in the area during its general meeting Feb. 26.
The society works alongside local law enforcement agencies by watching for and reporting crime. It maintains positive working relationships with those agencies, who were also present at last week’s meeting.
Members of a Priority Crimes Task Force were among them, and come from various area detachments, including Innisfail, Red Deer, Sylvan Lake and Blackfalds.
Sgt. Jeff McBeth of the Sylvan Lake RCMP said collaboration among agencies, and with groups such as BARCWS, can help both solve and prevent crimes.
“The Crime Watch Society can hear things in the community that wouldn't necessarily be relayed to us,” he said. “It may be the missing piece to the puzzle that we need to solving the crime.”
Meetings such as last Thursday’s also allow law enforcement agencies to have face-to-face contact with the public, and the public to voice their concerns.
“We enjoy those public meetings because we need that face-to-face (contact) with them too,” McBeth said. “It gives us the answer we’re looking for, such as if they are satisfied with the services they are getting from us, or what we could be doing better.”