If you are concerned about the rise of criminal activity in and around the Cochrane area, you may want to join the discussion tomorrow evening (March 15) in Airdrie.

While the event was to originally occur on February 8, a snowstorm caused the event to be postponed until tomorrow.

Airdrie-Banff MP Blake Richards and Airdrie MLA Angela Pitt are co-hosting the evening along with an expert panel made up of members of the RCMP, Citizens on Patrol (COP), Crime Stoppers, and a security company to discuss concerns and how/what can be done to prevent and be proactive about crime. 

Although the evening is being held at the Airdrie Hampton Inn, Pitt says don't get caught up in this being an Airdrie only event. "This is open to everybody from in and around the area that wants to attend. There is a lot of crossovers and a lot of knowledge that can be shared coming out of this meeting. It is a mix of urban and rural, business and property crimes, so everyone is welcome."

The goal of the evening is to share information and come up with ideas on how community members can feel safer and be safer, Pitt says some ideas are already being discussed. "It could be something like a voluntary camera registry. Everybody who has cameras recording submits where their cameras are or that they have cameras, so if there is an incident in the area that RCMP can access the site quite quickly and get more information. There are all sorts of different ideas; GPS ankle monitoring has come up as an idea to catch the perps."

With our communities facing different challenges than those in large urban centres, Pitt is hopeful that bringing a wide range of experts together will be fruitful on many levels. "There are so many different problems, there also has to be so many different solutions and nobody knows just quite what they are. So let's put a bunch of people that know some stuff in a room and see if we can all know a little bit more stuff by the end of the day."

Pitt and Richards have no specific target for attendance but hope anyone who has concerns, comes out. "I expect it will be well attended, my office has received quite a few phone calls and emails with concerns in regards to crime for the last year and a half and they are only becoming more."

If you are unable to make Thursday night's town hall, feel free to contact MLA Angela Pitt's office HERE. She invites anyone with questions, concerns, and possible solutions to drop her a line. Pitt is taking a stand on crime and says no matter what constituency you are from she will be a voice for you. "We are consulting with the people and we will do whatever we can to help."

The rising crime townhall runs from 7:30-9:30 pm and event information can be found at this link.