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Olds looks for return of sheriffs to town

Olds Mayor Judy Dahl believes a traffic police unit could still be set up in her town.

Olds Mayor Judy Dahl believes a traffic police unit could still be set up in her town.

The town recently sent a letter to Alberta’s Solicitor General, Jonathan Denis asking if an RCMP Integrated Traffic Unit could be set up in Olds.

Dahl said the town sent the request to Denis, who is also the province’s Public Security minister, once they heard of that the Innisfail RCMP Integrated Traffic Unit and Sheriffs were moving to Red Deer.

The integrated unit includes seven RCMP members, five sheriffs and a public support staff member.

It recently made the move to the old Red Deer Rural detachment on 55th Street near Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School.

Dahl believes that Olds is a great centralized location.

“This makes for an innovative partnership as we have the tools and prime location for traffic enforcement especially along QEII,” said Dahl, who added that a new fire department and tri-services building is being built next door to their RCMP station.

Olds was the site of a one-year sheriff project, before the officers were moved to other communities such as Innisfail. Dahl said they were never told why the program was removed from the community.

“It is a logical area for highway patrol because of our centralized location,” explained Dahl.

“It also adds to one of our sustainable features of safety as a community and region as a whole. We would be excited to have a traffic unit or the sheriffs back.”

Five integrated units patrol Hwy 2 from Airdrie to Leduc. The units respond to traffic complaints such as impaired driving, speeding, seatbelt and other violations. They also provide support to the local RCMP detachments.

“They came to the new RCMP detachment and it worked very well,” said Dahl of the one-year pilot project. “They left and we haven’t seen a reason why a unit wasn’t set up permanently.”

The town sent a letter to Denis to invite a traffic unit back to Olds after hearing that the Innisfail unit moved. It was also seen as an opportunity to find out why Olds did not receive a permanent unit.

Denis has said that he is open to the idea of a unit in Olds and will meet with the town and management of RCMP/Sheriff Integrated Traffic services later this month or in early March.

“It is exciting to see such a quick reply,” said Dahl.

“We have the support from our local RCMP detachment and the Olds and District Community Policing Advisory Committee. Everybody knows it would be a benefit to the community and would like to see it happen.”

Dahl said the decline in sheriff activity on local highways has been a big concern for the town.

cpapke@www.reddeeradvocate.com