The Wood Buffalo RCMP detachment has a new Officer in Charge (OIC).
Lorna Dicks became the OIC in December, replacing Rob McCloy. She has been a member of the RCMP for 21 years.
Dicks met with members of the media to discuss her goals for the region as the OIC. Stating one of them is to become more Intel led and crime reduction focused.
“We have a super strong intel team here in Wood Buffalo. We are able to detect and identify crime trends very quickly, so we can direct our resources immediately to those crime trends, so they don’t escalate,” said Dicks.
Dicks said as a detachment they have had several large successes with those methods. Pointing out that in 2015 there were 20 shootings in the city, last year there were only two.
The detachment is also working hand in hand with the Municipality to prepare for the spring rebuild.
“We have been in contact with the municipality to talk about how many permits are being granted so we know what that population spike will be,” said Dicks. “We are also working with the municipality to deal with traffic strategies because we know there is going to be a lot of heavy equipment.”
Over the next year the detachment plans to focus its efforts on engaging all of the communities in the RMWB in hopes that the residents will call the RCMP more and provide information, so they can better respond to incidents.
