Red Deer RCMP have five key targets to aim for as Mounties and the City of Red Deer made their Annual Policing Plan (APP) public at a joint press conference yesterday.

The APP is where council sets its policing priorities for the RCMP’s fiscal year.

Once again, reducing property crime is on the list, with plans for public education campaigns and to target habitual offenders. As well, police want to cut the incidence of crime involving youth.

“If I had to pick one that causes me the most angst, that’s property crime and trying to get a handle on the property crime that’s driven by the drug use,” said Supt. Ken Foster.

The local detachment commander said he expects property crime to be an ongoing issue for as long as the opioid crisis and poor economy persist.

Other priorities include building community relationships, increasing police presence downtown, and improving quality of service by increasing calls back to crime victims by 10 per cent and setting a 90 per cent attendance rate for police at break and enter complaints.

“We respond to about 53,000 calls a year. We have to prioritize. We can’t investigate all those crimes. We do recognize we have to tighten up a little bit our engagement with the community on responding to some of those calls and getting back to our clients in a little more timely fashion,” Foster said.

“People expect it. As a customer, if I call a company, I expect a call back. I don’t know see why the citizens wouldn’t.”

There was a desire from council early this year for more police responsiveness to non-emergency calls. At the time, Coun. Dianne Wyntjes was calling for a study into a policing model with municipal officers serving alongside RCMP. The rest of council shot down that proposal, but Wyntjes said her idea did trigger a discussion on service levels. She was pleased to hear Foster talk about the importance of calling citizens back after they’ve reported a crime.

“In the end, if it does improve our safety and the response and the communications with the public, and all of us taking a role in safety in our community, it was a motion that did have some outcome,” Wyntjes said.

The policing plan was revealed alongside results from the city’s citizen satisfaction survey, where crime is named the top concern amongst residents.

Life is good, according to citizen poll

Ninety-seven per cent of citizens polled said their quality of life in Red Deer is good or very good, according to the survey conducted by Ipsos.

Most respondents attributed that to economic development and better roads.

The survey also lists the community’s top priorities. Crime at the top is followed by transportation, which includes concerns about traffic congestion, potholes and roads. The next top-of-mind issue was municipal services such as snow removal, infrastructure, garbage and recycling and cleanliness.

“The feedback is incredibly important because it builds the city’s work plan for the coming year. Citizens have said this is an issue of concern so we’ve taken that seriously and endeavored to make positive changes,” said Mayor Tara Veer.

Eighty per cent of respondents said they received “good” or “fairly good” value for their taxes.

Regarding balancing taxation to service delivery, 50 per cent said they would increase taxes to maintain or expand services while 41 per cent would prefer to cut services to maintain or reduce taxes.

Ipsos surveyed 300 randomly chosen residents aged 18 and above in May.

The survey’s margin of error was 5.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20.