The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Fourteen clients, partners, and stakeholders, representing the Snow and Herb Lake area, met with Cpl. Bob MacKnight of the Snow Lake RCMP Detachment in the Snow Lake Seniors Centre at 7 p.m. on August 12th. The purpose of this Police - Community Consultative meeting was to cooperatively determine the community's policing priorities and formalize an action plan to monitor and evaluate police performance. After some minor introductions and an overview of the process the group would use in establishing the detachment priorities, the meeting was split into two groups and began discussing the issue. The plan was to document each group's policing priorities, as well as where they felt the town would be in three to five years time, before reporting back to the group as a whole later in the evening. The process went well and delivered a plan that all in attendance believed would address any of the problems that have and could arise in Snow Lake's long and promising future. The following RCMP - Community priorities will be formalized into an Action Plan: Drug/AlcohoI Abuse - Police will continue their efforts to educate and enforce, with more emphasis being placed upon education, which will be specifically directed towards youths. Foot Patrols - These patrols will be implemented and documented. MacKnight advised that to date, one early morning foot-patrol has been conducted. It resulted in the location of several youths who were in possession of open liquor. Local Traffic Enforcement - Traffic enforcement will be directed towards specific problem areas (and during certain hours) that were discussed and deemed to be of concern. Parental Responsibility/ Education - Even though, to date, police have been disappointed by the lack of interest and participation by parents, they will make an effort to renew their commitment in this regard. Communication - This priority will involve continuing police efforts to provide information via local media. They will renew and repeat the message that people have to get involved by telling police what they have seen or heard. This priority will also be utilized to better inform the public as to how to best contact the RCMP, particularly in the event of an emergency. Additionally, this priority will be utilized to ensure that police increase their visibility in the surrounding populated areas, specifically Herb Lake Landing and Anderson/Berry/ Taylor Bays. In reviewing what was accomplished in the meeting, Corporal MacKnight stated, "The community consultative process is not a new concept; however, it was one that was in need of rejuvenation. I believe that, collectively, this is exactly what was accomplished." He added, "In order for RCMP - Community Consultation to remain relevant and be successful, it must be an inclusive participatory process. In other words, as you may have read or heard before: 'The police are the community and community members are the police'"
