Bouquet...
To City RCMP Cpl. Kathe DeHeer, who emphasized this week that public co-operation is essential in effective community policing. And citizens need not fear repercussions by reporting a crime.
Recent surveys have shown one of the prime concerns in Red Deer is crime. But it’s impossible for police to provide blanket coverage at all times. That’s where citizens can fill that void.
Speaking Tuesday at the annual general meeting of the Red Deer Neighbourhood Watch, DeHeer emphasized some don’t believe their complaints make a difference and they fear retaliation.
But by failing to report crime, the situation get’s progressively worse, she warned. “You have to stand up to crime in your community. Crime prevention is a partnership. It’s just not the police in your neighbourhood . . . everybody has to take a role and they have to quit fearing what is going to happen (by reporting a crime).”
DeHeer continued: “The advantages of standing up far outweigh any small fear of retribution because, for the most part, retribution does not happen.”
One of the prime focuses of that meeting was homes in Red Deer neighbourhoods that have become a base for criminal activity, gang hangouts, drug supply depots and party spots.
Ex-Calgary cop Barry Balerud was also at the meeting. He heads up a program administered by Alberta Sheriffs called Save Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN), which zeroes in on such homes. The team works closely with city RCMP and has the authority to shut down residences where criminal elements thrive.
SCAN relies heavily on public co-operation. “We need people to report stuff to us if we’re going to do something about it,” said Balerud.
For more information on the SCAN program and how you can help, visit www.scan.alberta.ca, or call 1-866-960-7226.
Dart...
To ex-Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, who was strutting her stuff in Toronto recently during a tight T-shirt-tugging, chilly rainy day to condemn Canada’s annual seal hunt — and to launch her new ‘animal-friendly clothing line’ at TO’s Fashion Week.
What a farce.
Anderson called the hunt “a shameful practice,” demanding an end to the livelihood of many poverty-stricken Eastern Canadians.
The 42-year-old, who built her reputation on anything but insight of the natural world, told a gathering outside Ontario’s legislature that she wants to save Canada from international embarrassment over a “barbaric massacre.”
“When I travel all over the world, the Canadian seal hunt is a huge issue that people talk to me about. So I’m trying to save some embarrassment,” she said.
During her speech, she was shielded by umbrellas to ensure not a drop of rain reached her primped hair and makeup. She then mugged for the cameras, kissing somebody dressed in a seal costume — a stunt set up by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Anderson was born on B.C.’s West Coast. “By being a Canadian, I feel I am hopefully a good voice here,” she said, as clicking cameras zeroed in on her attributes.
She claimed baby seals are clubbed to death in front of their mothers before they have their first swim.
In fact, killing baby seals hasn’t been practised since the early 1980s.
Anderson didn’t know that? What an embarrassment to Canadians.
Rick Zemanek is an Advocate editor.