Drayton Valley RCMP Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews - Town of Drayton Valley
Mental health remains a top priority for the Drayton Valley RCMP.
At the Town of Drayton Valley’s May 25, 2022 council meeting, Drayton Valley Staff Sergeant Erin Matthews was delivering the monthly crime statistics.
Matthews once again praised the Regional Police and Crisis Team (RPACT) based in Rocky Mountain House. RPACT is a community-based mobile response team where RCMP and local mental health professionals work together to respond to mental health calls.
The Drayton Valley RCMP began engaging the services of RPACT at the end of February. In that time, the Drayton Valley RCMP has had 46 mental health calls, and called RPACT to assist on 14 of them.
Matthews highlighted that one of the benefits of RPACT is they do follow-ups, such as ensuring the individual is continuing to take their medication.
Matthews hopes her detachment will continue to call in RPACT out of Rocky Mountain House. Matthews is trying to convince her superiors that Drayton Valley needs its own RPACT, and the more times they request RPACT from Rocky Mountain House, the easier it will be to make her case.
Councillor Bill Ballas was curious about the relationship. Ballas wanted to know why RPACT was only brought in on 14 calls.
According to Matthews, the Drayton Valley RCMP’s partnership with the Rocky Mountain House RPACT only began at the end of February, so it took the detachment some time to get used to the relationship.
Some of the other notable statistics in Matthews’ report was that assault continues to be on the rise. There were 44 incidents in April 2022. Matthews attributes that to people just getting out more.
There was also a 47 per cent rise in Other Criminal Code Offences. Councillor Tim McGee asked for a refresher on what Other Criminal Code Offences are.
Matthews responded, the main reason for the jump was a rise in instances of breach of conditions. Matthews added, this is actually a good thing, because it means they are laying more charges.
Comments