Cold Lake residents able to report thefts, mischief online in pilot project

Cold Lake’s RCMP detachment will be one of the testing locations for a new online provincial crime reporting tool that goes live on June 8.

That means city residents can report small crimes online, including damages, mischiefs, and thefts under $5000 and they’ll receive a call back from members of the K Division, the province’s RCMP detachment.

Doryn Cross, media relations for the Cold Lake RCMP, said it’s another tool to report crimes while also keeping boots on the ground locally.

“That’s going to go to our callback unit and they’re going to be getting a response within approximately five business days,” said Cross.

“They’re [residents] going to be speaking to an officer and they’re going to be getting their information from that officer. It’s going to be handled outside of the Cold Lake RCMP detachment and will be going to the callback unit at that point in time, so it’s gonna be taking a little bit of weight off of our attachment.”

All RCMP jurisdictions in Alberta will have this ability starting June 15.

Cold Lake, along with Airdrie, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Banff, and Strathcona County, and get an early look at how the system will work before it launches province-wide.

“We were chosen specifically based on location, they wanted one close to the major centers…they wanted each one of the four the districts represented to ensure that the files from different regions were tested on the system,” said Cross.

“All files are important to us. But it takes boots off the ground where we can be putting boots on the ground with more priority calls…So this way, we have people in an office that are able to support them [victims] in a different manner.”

Citizens will be able to report the following crimes online:

• Damage/mischief to property under $5,000
• Theft of bicycle under $5,000
• Theft under $5,000
• Theft from vehicle under $5,000
• Lost property

Incidents must also satisfy the following conditions to be reported online:

• No witnesses or suspects
• Item(s) lost or stolen must cost less than $5,000
• Vandalized property will cost less than $5,000 to repair
• There are no items involving personal identity, firearms, licence plates or decals

Residents are encouraged to use this tool where it’s possible.

You can report crimes online here.