Elk Point RCMP Detachment ranked highest in province for crime severity

The Elk Point RCMP Detachment ranks highest in Alberta on the crime severity rate index. The five member detachment saw five murders in the last year and responded to nearly 3,000 incidents.

Elk Point RCMP Sergeant David Henry confirmed that in 2018, the detachment responded to five murders. In all of the murders, alcohol use or the drug trade were factors.

The year saw 2,913 files, including:

• 309 mischief (damage to property, or people on property where they shouldn’t be).
• 213 suspicious person/vehicle/property
• 177 motor vehicle with property damage reportable
• 140 other theft under $5000
• 114 assault
• 90 break and enter
• 5 murders

“The files created a very high caseload for each of the five members,” stated Sgt. Henry. He explained that the index is based on the number of serious crimes in relation to the population.

There is an application for another officer, but so far RCMP headquarters in Ottawa has not approved.

A new recruit will be joining the detachment in June to replace Corporal Robert Burgess, who has been transferred.

Sgt. Henry says the call volume for 2019 has “drastically dropped,” crediting local residents for reporting suspicious activities, the “proactive team working through problems in the detachment office,” and the Eastern Alberta District Rural Crime Reduction Unit (EADRCRU) for capturing many “big-time clients.”

He notes, however, that a large number of this year’s files relate to incidents of assault and assault with a weapon.

The Elk Point RCMP Detachment responds to calls in the town of Elk Point, Fishing Lake Métis Settlement, Frog Lake First Nations, and the County of St. Paul, south and of Elk Point.