Discussions

Let's see, got the call centre in Winnipeg, talked to a lady who had no idea how to spell Souris, little alone know where it was, said the local detachment would be informed, more than 24 hours later was contacted. Definitely not putting any blame on the local forces, but it's just like everything that is outside the major urban areas, pay your taxes, be patient, and don't whine.

Called once. got call returned 24 hours later. Said they were real busy.

Are you talking about the RCMP, or rural police forces like the Rivers Police? The RCMP have very few officers covering fairly large areas . . .

Called on a Saturday night and the officer on duty called me back but he was at the far side of our RM-took him a good hour to get here. I was okay with that response time for the situation.

We were woken to our truck being broken into. We called 911, took an hour to arrive. Another time, we called at 2am for a physical alteration going on down our back alley. The dispatch lady said she would contact an officer. About one hour later the officer called me to ask if the altercation was over. He never bothered to show up. Another time a large amount of thefts were committed across town. We were told to call back after 9am when they get on shift. We now have a COPP program.

The RCMP are very understaffed all across Canada but especially in MB right now. They cover large areas and is sometimes only 2 or 3 officers on a night shift.  
 
Im talking from Carberry to just south of Minnedosa to just west of Alexander, too south of Minto.  
 
If an officer is in Carberry for a call and gets called out to Souris...... Even if he dropped everything and booked it, its still gonna be about an hour travel time. Even if he breaks every speed limit to the best of his confidence as a driver.  
 
Its unfortunate but certainly not the local officers faults, they have a pecking order of importance of calls and the distance they sometimes have to travel limits what they can do.

We live south of Kemmay,and have had responses in a little over 15 minutes once when our cameras caught someone and the alarms went off. I had to call once after that about a separate trespass to a neighbors field, and took a little over 25 minutes. Neighbors have had a few similar response times, according to what I have heard. There are also community watches in effect in certain areas, which helps us identify suspicious vehicles, which we alert others too. It sounds funny, but it does help. Really depends on where you live, proximity, and definitely on how busy the officers currently are though. Always a great idea to invest in security camera's and an alarm system (wire it into solar, and use the live Wi-Fi viewing capabilities if you have that. We use it, and it's a good idea) if you want extra piece of mind.  
 
Edited by , 2018-02-20 13:04:45

There is a 911 response center in Brandon as well as Winnipeg. Brandon supposedly covers the rural areas. Calls are only routed to Winnipeg if the Brandon lines are all busy.

SensibleFarmer said "There is a 911 response center in Brandon as well as Winnipeg. Brandon supposedly covers the rural areas. Calls are only routed to Winnipeg if the Brandon lines are all busy. "

The 911 dispatch center takes all 911 calls in the western ish area of MB but if there are any rural calls they are sent directly to the RCMP dispatch center in winnipeg.  
 
If you call 911 from souris you will hit the brandon call center first, then the local dispatcher will pass you onto a WPG dispatcher for the RCMP.  
 
Edited by Suckie, 2018-02-20 13:57:34

I guess I shouldn''t come across as complaining about having to talk to someone in Winnipeg, the person was helpful, and when I asked if I should try and get a plate number was told not to endanger myself.  
I guess my problem is I''ve been around long enough to remember not having a detachment in Souris, and then being able to watch it grow so both the town and municipality were sure to have members on duty and having good response times, to what we have today, and that''s no fault of the RCMP.  
I at times claim to be a liberal, which means there are times that I get really ticked when I see governments trying to give everyone what they want instead of providing us with what we need. To myself, effective policing is not a want but a need, it''s a part of creating equality and fairness to all Canadians, and I feel that urban centres don''t understand what we have lost over the years, and are continuing to lose with each passing year.  
The idea of cameras is fine if your going to put all your equipment in the yard by the shop, so that fuel and batteries don''t get taken, and maybe you''ll have some visual proof, but in many cases that''s not possible to do. People sometimes just look at it as you''re only losing a tank of fuel, but some of those tanks are pretty big, or what if it''s someone who''s trying to pick up a couple of calves in a pasture, or a truck load of canola out of a yard site. I don''t even think you can buy insurance for crap like that, but it happens all the time.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2018-02-20 14:34:41

Brown, well said. Rural theft is a serious problem on the Prairies, and after awhile it becomes aggravating, as all theft is. We need more police officers, without a doubt. There was another incident recently in rural Saskatchewan that I stumbled upon.  
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/gunshot-trespass-report-battleford-farm-1.4541625

Last September, we called 911 about someone on our property. We live 13k from Brandon. We were call routed to the dispatch as we live in a rural area. I don't know if the dispatcher knew where Brandon was. She said that she would send a Blue Hills dept. She called back 30 minutes later, they were close to Brandon, so they called Boissevain detachment. Who did not find us because the dispatcher had mixed up our location. They had to return to Boissevain (they were near Minto) so half an hour later, the Carberry detachment called...they were on their way. By then the prowlers had been scared off by our dogs barking. We told them to not bother. Good thing there was no serious home invasion!!

Sorry the Blue Hills detachment were near Virden not Brandon