A feeling of increasing uneasiness has fallen upon many Lorette residents after two seniors were murdered in their home, less than a ten-minute drive from the community.

Some have become angry at the unfairness of the situation, others scared for their own wellbeing, and still others motivated to action. Andrea Green and her husband Jim Clapper find themselves in that third group.

The same night of the double homicide along River Road in the Rural Municipality of Taché, a truck was stolen from the Greens’ driveway. While unrelated, the two events disturbed the couple who are now calling on the RCMP to officially establish police services in their region.

From Green’s perspective, crime is on the rise and that trend needs to stop.

“It seems to be a constant thing in the last year or so and it has only gotten worse,” she says. “Kids are getting assaulted at mail boxes, people are rummaging through cars, this is the second vehicle we have had stolen and we have only been here for three years now... you just don’t feel safe!”

At present, patrolling all communities within the RM of Taché is a job shared by the Steinbach and St. Pierre-Jolys detachments. Green maintains that neither headquarters is close enough to respond to emergencies in her area in a timely manner. Indeed, she says a quicker response time may have been enough to save the lives of the late homicide victims who had, themselves, called the RCMP and alerted them to the intruder shortly before their deaths.

“Everybody is thinking that it could have been any of us, the murderer did not know those people, he just stumbled into a random house,” she details. “We now know that while we are sleeping, people are walking around our yards and our driveways, it is an unsettling feeling, and if we had a police force closer to our area, I think it would kind of deter people.”

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Taking seriously reports of increased crime in Lorette, police crunched the numbers. According to Mainagre, his detatchment investigated 7.2 per cent more property crimes in 2020 as compared to 2019.

Between those two years, cases of fraud jumped from 5 to 23; cases of theft of over $5,000 jumped from 84 to 127; and vehicle thefts jumped from 23 to 64.

While these statistics may initially appear staggering, Mainagre stresses it is based on his detatchment’s entire coverage area, not just Lorette.

“The analysis found that Lorette did not see a significant rise in these violation types between 2019 and 2020.”

In the first quarter of 2021, he says, there has actually been a reduction in the crime rate.

“While there are no plans to establish a new detachment in Lorette and the satellite office has been closed due to COVID-19, we want to reassure Lorette residents that regular patrols are being conducted by officers,” states the sergeant. “The officers have workstations in their vehicles that ultimately acts as a mobile office. They can do the vast majority of their work directly from their vehicles and reduces the requirement for a physical space.”

Any resident who has concerns about crime is encouraged to reach out to their local detachment commander. Ultimately, Manaigre says working collaboratively with residents is the best way of reducing crime.