Residents of McAdam, New Brunswick are reporting an increase in crimes and infractions in their area. They allege that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is not taking rising crime rates seriously and that the situation is frustrating.
On Monday, about 100 residents gathered at McAdam High School to share their concerns with authorities.
The encounter follows numerous reported crimes in the small community, including an incident where a resident vigilante took action that led to police laying charges against him.
People don’t feel safeclaimed the resident Don Doherty at the public meeting organized by the village council.
The message from residents is clear: officers take too long to intervene – or don’t intervene at all – when they are needed.
One of the people to have shared his story is Cathy Jewett. Someone broke into his 68-year-old father’s home. A credit card was stolen from him.
Cathy Jewett claims that when his family reported the incident to the RCMPwe answered them that this was not the type of incident for which she would send an officer in person.
Since she lives in Fredericton, Cathy Jewett is worried about her father.
You give power to the criminals of this villageshe told authorities on Monday. If you don’t show up at the crime scene, because yes, it was a crime scene, that just proves to them that they can get away with it.
Recruitment problem
The Divisional Commander of the RCMP in New Brunswick, Deanna Hill and the Minister of Public Security, Bill Hogan were present at the public meeting organized by the village council.
Deanna Hill attributed this situation to a lack of resources, due to the labor shortage affecting the RCMP at national scale.
She added that McAdam is part of a regional resource sharing model of the RCMP with the city of St.Stephenwhich explains some response times.
RCMP Superintendent for the West District, Andy LeClair warned those who would like to seek justice and reminded that if someone wants to defend themselves, it is possible, but only by using “reasonable force”.
Bill Hogan for his part assured that more officers will be deployed to do future random patrols in McAdam.
The number of agents currently on duty has not been made public by the RCMP, For safety reasons.
Mayor of McAdam, Ken Stannixsaid he hopes the RCMP will take concrete action. He added that if the crime rate in his village persists, provincial political actions will be called for.
According to the report ofAidan Cox of CBC
Radio CanadaMartin Leclerc
Source: Radio-Canada
