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Rumours of Two Hills RCMP detachment closure debunked Merger of Two Hills and Vegreville detachments being considered BY JANA SEMENIUK Two Hills RCMP Sergeant David Henry spent much of Jan. 31 fielding phone calls from people concerned that the Two Hills RCMP detachment was closing down. “I had six or seven calls from various people (around this rumour),” he said. “And it’s absolutely false.” Concerns were first raised during the Jan. 28 Lamont County council meeting when Councillor Neil Woitas said he was asked, at a recent AG Service Board meeting, if he had any information on the RCMP closing the Two Hills detachment. Henry said that what is being considered is a possible merger of the Vegreville and Two Hills detachments which would not include the closing of Two Hills. “What's being considered is Staff Sergeant Colin Folk (Vegreville detach-
ment) taking over both as leader, and when that would occur. “We will be approaching the counthen I would be the (second in command), and we could merge our man- ties to see what they think of the mergpower to have better coverage,” he er before,” he said. Vegreville Staff Sergeant Colin Folk said, adding that the Two Hills detachechoed Henry’s statements and said a ment are sometimes short-staffed. merger could “We help each better serve the other anyway but community. this will increase “If we're just the amount of satisfied with members available the level of at any given time policing we’re to respond to giving to the calls.” c o m m u n i t y, Sgt. Henry conwe're doing a firmed that a condisservice to the sultation with c o m m u n i t y, stakeholders police organizawould take place tion and our before any decimembers,” he sions were made, said. although he has no “We always details on how or Two Hills RCMP Sgt David Henry
need to be constantly looking at new avenues to increase service delivery. And that's all we're doing at this point. We're looking at potential options for an operational restructure that increases our policing response to the communities that are contracting the police.” Folk added that closing a detachment would not achieve better policing. “Closing down a detachment doesn't do that. In fact, it does the opposite. That's not what our goal is. So anything of that nature, if that was ever suggested, just wouldn't be a practical solution,” he said. An RCMP delegation is scheduled for the Feb. 25 Lamont County council meeting at the county office. Meetings are open to the public to attend in person or online.
Stolen semi subdued near Bruderheim BY JANA SEMENIUK A semi stolen from Edmonton was finally subdued with the use of a police helicopter and a spike belt on Hwy 15 near Bruderheim on Jan. 30. RCMP detachments from Sherwood Park, Vegreville and Fort Saskatchewan assisted in the capture which Vegreville Staff Sergeant Colin Folk said was due in large part to GPS equipment on the vehicle. “GPS was the only reason we were able to get these guys,” said Folk. Folk said the semi was stolen some-
time overnight from a company in Edmonton who had GPS equipment on it. The semi was found to be in Vegreville, prompting police to call in additional resources and begin their pursuit. Folk said police tried unsuccessfully to spike belt the semi multiple times before finally being successful near Bruderheim. He said after the semi was finally stopped, one of the three individuals inside jumped out and tried to carjack
a passing vehicle before finally being arrested. “Thankfully we were right there when that happened so we were able to stop it,” said Sgt. Folk who added that the coordinated effort of several RCMP detachments ensured a safe conclusion. “The coordinated response was fantastic. It's very high risk when you have people that are not going to stop for the police and are in a vehicle as big as a semi. “We have to make sure that we can
disable that vehicle without risk to the general public, (because) these guys don't care about anybody. They just want to get away from us,” he said. “We needed specialized resources and unmarked vehicles to be able to manage this situation and we also had the support of our air services helicopter up overhead (for) the tracking and trailing of vehicles. It worked out that we had a lot of resources at the right place at the right times.”