Businesses from three Red Deer industrial parks are banding together to address the growing concern over crime in their area.
A meeting scheduled for next week in the Queens Industrial Park will give local business a chance to learn and share what crime they have seen in the area and what could be done in terms of prevention.
Suzy Dietrich, assistant to the owners of Nor-Ag Ltd., is one of the forces organizing the meeting. The meeting is open to business owners, operators and employees in the Queens, Burnt Lake and Belich industrial parks in North Red Deer.
She said many business in the area have had their yards, vehicles and shops broken into.
“We’ve had a lot of activity out here in the last month,” said Dietrich. “We need to get together and figure out what is going on.”
Red Deer RCMP and city and council members have also been invited to the meeting to respond to questions from business owners and employees.
The meeting runs from 7 to 9 a.m. on Nov. 15 at the Manufacturers’ Health and Safety Association, 54 Queensland Cres.
Dietrich said the community has a much louder voice if they come together and combine their efforts and money to combat criminals and troublemakers in the area.
“My hope is that we can all get more protection, more security and get to know our neighbours,” she wrote in the meeting invitation, adding by working together businesses could save money and create a force against the crime they are experiencing.
Business owners and employees are asked to bring, and possibly share, incident reports from the last three years, insurance rates and increases they’ve seen, taxes and what issues they have around crime in their community.
Other issues discussed will include road access, setting up future meetings and trying to get the word out about the problems the communities face.
mcrawford@reddeeradvocate.com
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