City Council has once again set increased police visibility as the number one priority for RCMP in Steinbach.

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra sits on the RCMP Advisory Committee. He notes setting priorities for police in the community is something they do every year.

"As a council, in consultation with our staff sergeant and with our administration, we always determine our priority areas that we want police to focus on and for the last few years we have had the same priority areas because they are areas that we have deemed to be important.  I believe that it makes sense for us to continue focusing on these areas."

Police visibility is once again number one and  Zwaagstra says "When you have police officers visible in the community, that builds relationships with people in the community and it also acts as a deterrent to crime. Part of that visibility also involves having our detachment officers provide D.A.R.E. training, which is drug resistance training to youth in grades 6 and 8 and obviously, that training is important."

The other three priorities are a reduction in the impact of organized crime and drug use, a reduction in property crimes such as vandalism and break and enters, and enhanced road safety.

Over the last two years, there has been a significant drop in break and enters in Steinbach. Zwaagstra says this is likely a result of people being home more due to COVID-19 restrictions and they expect this to be a bigger issue moving forward now that things have opened up.

Councillor Jac Siemens says the city has also worked with RCMP to address organized crime and road safety, the second and fourth priorities. He highlighted the General Investigation Unit that was first started in Steinbach around six years ago.

"That started with one officer and now we have two there in that unit and now we also have a traffic control officer. I think we have done very well working together with the RCMP and coming up with different tactics to make our community a safer place."

Council voted unanimously to set these policing priorities.