Concern over rural crime has been heightened by the recent mass murder and subsequent manhunt in Saskatchewan. In the days the suspect was at large, many more farm families locked their doors at night. Some made sure they had quick access to their firearms.
Usually, the threat isn’t so dire, but many areas struggle with property theft and vandalism. Problems are perceived to be worsening.
A huge variation exists from one region to another. In some locales, keys are left in vehicles and farm equipment even when they are parked in the field close to major roads. Most don’t lock their homes at night or even if they’re leaving the farm for the day.
In other areas, that sort of nonchalant attitude doesn’t exist. Beyond keeping everything locked, security cameras are commonplace.
There’s an old axiom that locks only stop honest people. Given time and tools, locked buildings can be easily breached. However, removing keys can certainly cut down on vehicle theft.
Security cameras can seem like a good idea, but even if you get a reasonably good picture of an intruder, it seldom leads to an apprehension.
The RCMP is spread thinly. In a life and death situation, police response might be timely, but rural residents often feel they need to take measures into their own hands.
Imagine in the middle of the night that you’re awakened to discover two men stealing diesel from the slip tank in the back of your service truck. Do you call the police knowing they’ll never arrive in time? Do you confront the thieves? Do you just shrug, chock it up to the cost of doing business and stay safely out of harm’s way with your family?
Authorities will tell you the latter choice is the right answer. No use risking bodily harm or getting charged with assault or worse.
However, some people will defend their property and this knowledge is no doubt a crime deterrent. Imagine how much rural crime there would be if thieves thought they would never be challenged.
While no magic answer exists to curbing rural crime, communication technology is a useful tool that should be more effectively utilized. Everyone has a smart phone.
A couple years ago in the area where I farm, a What’s App was started to report fires. It’s been a great tool. When you see smoke on the horizon, is it a controlled burn or a combine fire? Is it five miles away or 25?
With the app, people can pinpoint the location of a fire and call for help if needed. An immediate, coordinated response is possible by those best able to help out.
Recently, the app was used to try and catch thieves who had stolen vehicles. With a network of people taking to the road and watching for the stolen vehicles, there was a much greater chance of helping the RCMP track the thieves. At one point, a small plane was employed for a set of aerial eyes.
This wasn’t the original intention of the fire app, so a new What’s App was created for crime in the area. Turning citizens into vigilantes isn’t a good idea, but having a network of eyes and ears in rural regions could be a great defence and a huge deterrent.
This sort of effort could benefit from some central organization and coordination. Properly structured, it could be a logical way to make rural crime watch programs more effective.