Alberta Crime Reduction Strategy (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

Alberta

City/ Region:

Alberta

Description of Initiative:

The Alberta Crime Reduction Strategy is a consultative, research-based, intelligence-led approach to reducing crime. This is accomplished by focusing police actions toward high-volume offenders, known crime hot spots, and/or the underlying causes of crime. This multi-layered approach is focused and coordinated using components of crime reduction: problem solving, enforcement, intervention and prevention. For the problem-solving component, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) uses CAPRA (Clients, Acquire/Analyse Information, Partnerships, Response, Assessment of Action taken), a community policing problem-solving model. The ultimate goals of the Alberta Crime Reduction Strategy are to lower crime rates, reduce the fear of crime, reduce the impact of anti-social behaviours in our communities and create efficiencies within the criminal justice system.

Initiative Key Objectives:

The strategy aims to focus on high-volume offenders, target known crime hot spots and target the underlying causes of crime. This will be done with partners with a shared interest in reducing crime.

Section Responsible for Implementation:

'K' Division—Community Policing

Key Contact:

Donnan G. McKenna
don.g.mckenna@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

  • community groups - cooperative (direct involvement)
  • other police services - consultative (information sharing)
  • other police services - cooperative (direct involvement)
  • other government departments/agencies - consultative (information sharing)
  • other government departments/agencies - cooperative (direct involvement)

Level of Involvement (consultative - information sharing) and/or cooperative - direct involvement):

N/A

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

This initiative was launched in Fall/Winter 2013-2014.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

This is an initiative within the Alberta Justice and Solicitor General / RCMP 2013-2016 business plan, and was undertaken to find new efficiencies in the overall reduction of crime.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

No significant costs.

Method of Implementation:

The initiative started as a pilot project and was progressively phased in.

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

Preliminary outcomes indicate lower crime rates. However, given that the initiative was only launched recently, no official results are currently available.

Availability of a Communication Strategy:

Yes

Key Messages used to Publicize the Initiative:

In August 2012, 'K' Division announced it would be sponsoring the development of a crime reduction strategy. This strategy is based on three crime reduction tenets: focusing in on habitual/prolific offenders; identifying and addressing crime hot spots through analysis of information; and taking steps to address the root causes of crime through strategic partnerships and proactive initiatives.

Draft division crime reduction and habitual offender management policy has been created to provide guidance to all employees on how their detachments can implement crime reduction. It is currently in the last stages of the draft process, and feedback from districts and detachments is being reviewed and considered prior to publishing. The Habitual Offender Management program, including a PROS guide that will assist members in managing these offenders, has been created and will provide detachments with a framework to facilitate a consistent response to this small group of offenders who are responsible for a large proportion of crime within our communities.

An internal crime reduction website has been created to assist detachments in implementing a crime reduction strategy. This website contains reference materials, guides, resources, best practices and links to other websites to assist with the creation and implementation of crime reduction strategies.

Meaningful consultation and community engagement through community consultative groups or police advisory committees is an essential part of collaboratively identifying and resolving crime issues. By involving our communities and partner agencies, alliances will be formed that create effective and sustainable initiatives, leading to a reduction in crime.

Crime reduction is a proven method of effectively policing our communities. The office of the Alberta Justice and Solicitor General is our partner in this strategy.

Forms of Evaluation by which the Initiative will be Assessed:

  • internal
  • quantitative
  • social return on investment

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

No

Summary of the Outcomes:

Feedback received from partners to date has been extremely positive.

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

N/A

Economics of Policing Pillars:

Further Details:

N/A

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

This initiative involves partners with a shared interest in reducing crime. It will involve targeting high-crime areas, efficiently dealing with habitual offenders and working with partners to deal with the underlying causes of crime.

Record Entry Date:

2015-03-01

Date modified: