By Adam Eisenbarth
About a year ago, Rimbey RCMP Sgt. Mark Groves was just settling into his new job.
Since that time, Groves has assisted in making Rimbey the safe community that it is and he’s looking to continue this crucial contribution to the town.
“We’re using community-based policing.” Groves sees value in keeping the communication lines open throughout the area.
“At the beginning of the year I went to the community and said, ‘Where do we want to go. I was brand new to the community I wanted a feel for what they feel are priorities.”
The results have been positive, but Groves explains it’s a continual process.
One major win for the RCMP in Groves’ time in Rimbey has been a reduction in access to drugs.
“Just talking to people and sources, they’ve said that recently they have noticed the availability of drugs in Rimbey is a lot less than it was a year ago.”
Prior to working in Rimbey, Groves worked in Whitehorse, Yukon.
“Rimbey is a lot busier than I expected. I expected it to be more of a quieter farm community. I wasn’t expecting 50-plus calls a week.”
He doesn’t say that’s a bad thing however. Because the detachment has made a greater effort to show its presence and earn trust throughout the community, Groves believes more people are turning to the police.
“We’ve stimulated a lot of calls that normally may have gone unreported. I’ve had a lot of people in the counties reporting crimes that they’ve said they would not have reported in the past.”
That feedback has Groves confident that the RCMP are moving in the right direction to better involve the community in safety.
“It takes a whole community to raise a child, it takes a whole community to make it safe and we’re relying on the public support.”
Groves has had an impact on the community, but his staff has been right there with him throughout. “We have an excellent staff and we actually have a new recruit coming this weekend.”
The detachment is looking forward to welcoming Const. Dallas Langley to the fold. “He’s going to fit into Rimbey nicely. I’m looking forward to his new face being around town.”
When he’s not in uniform, Groves is an active resident who enjoys this community.
When he’s not in uniform, Groves is an active resident who enjoys this community.
“The schooling is phenomenal. I coached a Little League team this year here in Rimbey. Seeing kids in a light different than when you’re in uniform with the yellow stripe and being around the kids and the family members and they see you as a person and a friend or a mentor, (it’s nice.)”
As he looks back at one year of policing in Rimbey, it’s been great so far.
“That ‘pro-police’ kind of atmosphere has made it a nice community to slide into."