Heading into the summer season, CochraneNow checked in with Cochrane RCMP Corporal Troy Savinkoff to see how Cochrane is faring from the detachment's viewpoint.

Firstly, the RCMP detachment is looking forward to the easing of restrictions with the Open for Summer stages being imminent.  However, it is still important to continue to follow the rules. Savinkoff says, “Continue to follow the rules, stay up to date and keep yourself update as to what they are as they change, and we will continue to work with the community to ensure that we are all staying safe and that compliance is always going to be the number one priority.”

On the good news front, crime-wise, Savinkoff says that things have been pretty good in Cochrane. He says, “Break and enters are down, thefts from vehicles are down, theft of vehicles are down in some cases 15 to 20 per cent.”

On the bad news side of things, Savinkoff says, “But, what we are seeing is, unfortunately, a pretty significant increase of domestic violence here at our detachment.” Savinkoff says the increase could be directly linked to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and people having been cooped up together with little opportunity for distancing. “We are obviously hoping that as people are allowed to be outside and socializing outside more that hopefully, we see that trend go in the other direction.”

On the weekend of June 5, Cochrane RCMP did respond to a couple of vehicle thefts in which the vehicles were stolen in the Jumping Pound, Bow Ridge area. Residents need to make sure they are locking their vehicles and ensuring that valuables are not left in them either. Savinkoff says it bares repeating, “People in this community feel safer, as they should as it is a safe a community. But, they are less apt to lock their vehicles, secure their homes, and they are more apt to leave things in their vehicles. So, if we take those attractions away it will help protect everybody from these people coming to our community specifically to do this type of crime in our area.”

Finally, as with previous summers, Corporal Savinkoff speaks to the issue of the cliff diving into the Bow River at a popular spot near the Seebe Dam. It is a spot in which people trespass onto private property to get to the destination and if people do get into trouble, it is hard for EMS to get to victims quickly and easily.  It has been the spot of many drownings over the years. Savinkoff says that in his time in Cochrane he knows of five drownings that have happened in the area. There are a number of groups working with the RCMP including, the Municipal District of Bighorn, Stoney Nakoda First Nation, along with TransAlta, ATCO, and the Canadian Pacific (CP) Police Service who are collaborating on securing the area and preventing further tragedy. “We’re going to enforce it very stringently this year. Already speaking to the members who have been out there doing enforcement, they have seen a large drop off in the number of people that are coming so I am glad to say the message is getting out, but we know that we must stay consistent and be out there to prevent it. It created some huge problems for us last year and we are trying to mitigate the issue as much as we can.”

It is hoped that everyone can enjoy the beautiful, low-crime area that we live in this summer. Hopefully, we can enjoy it even more with fewer COVID-19 restrictions with the Open for Summer plan.