At the beginning of June, I reached out to Constable Reinders, to pass on my regrets I wasn’t able to attend the month of May’s “Let’s Talk” session due to work. I asked if there was anything from her presentation or other news that she’d like me to share at the board meeting and in the CA newsletter.
Here is a summary of our communications to share with board and the community.
1. Do not leave anything in your vehicle including sunglasses and garage door openers. It’s still surprising how many people do.
2. Please check manually that you have locked your vehicle doors. The “beep-beep” of the remote lock can also be the “beep-beep” of the remote unlocking the car doors!
3. While working in your yard, please close and lock garage doors and the main doors to your house. Often, these doors are left unlocked for easy access, but we forget about them and walk away from the garage to the front yard and now thieves have easy access to tools, bikes, and camping gear for instance. Please lock every door, every time.
4. Be mindful of neighbours and when they are going on holidays. Look out for each other and notice when things “do not add up” such as doors or windows that are open especially overnight or ladders against the house etc. Knowing your neighbours is the best form of crime prevention out there. And it’s free!
The Calgary Police Service is looking at a new team, the Community Engagement Response Team. This team will be focusing on crime in very specific high-call response areas, such as encampments near the river, North Hill Mall, and Brentwood Shopping Centre. This team is unfortunately only coming into effect at the end of the summer.
Until that time: if you see an encampment, you can report it on the 311 app, or at the District Three Office. Please use the following CPS email to report any encampments or houses that need the attention of CPS. The email is [email protected]. The CPS relies on accurate and descriptive information from those living in the community.
Suggestions include having a notepad on the kitchen counter or the dinner table. Write the following information down.
• Type, model, make of cars
• Times of day the cars come and go
• Frequency of the cars. Three times a week or always on Monday and Wednesdays between these specific times.
• The type of activity. Someone goes inside for five minutes and comes out with a bag.
• Don’t need license plates but do need the times and especially the description of the individuals and/or the cars.
Most vulnerable people are dressed in dark colours or black, so if you give a description please focus on backpacks, hats, bikes, or bags that they are carrying. Also, their footwear. A thief may have a change of clothes or ditch a jacket, but they don’t change their footwear. In addition, the direction they are traveling in and how, such as by foot or bike, this will allow the CPS to have an idea on where to start searching for these individuals first.
Hopefully by incorporating these simple but proven habits, the safety of our community overall will improve as well as continue to build the HH/BH Community Association partnerships with CPS and other resource agencies.
Click here to the Briar Hill Community News home page for the latest Briar Hill community updates.
Click here to the Hounsfield Heights-Briar Hill Community News home page for the latest Hounsfield Heights-Briar Hill community updates.
