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“There’s been a lot of discussion about rural property crime given the recent court case in Saskatchewan,” Scott said, referencing the acquittal of Gerald Stanley in the killing of 22-year-old Indigenous man Colten Boushie.
“It would be obvious that if you’re living in a rural location the RCMP response is a little bit slower than a municipal city’s response, and every property owner knows how far away their detachment of jurisdiction is,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean that the RCMP supports property owners … taking matters into their own hands.
“I understand that property owners may want to protect their property, but there are limits to what people can do to protect their property. We will consistently encourage people to call the RCMP, let us do the investigation, let us manage the situation.”
Alberta rural RCMP detachments have seen a 16 per cent increase in Criminal Code offences over the past five years, according to Scott.