Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2012
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2012 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Contact: http://www.leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361

CRIME RISE MERITS CROSS-BORDER EFFORT

It might be a little strong to call it "the dark side" of our 
economic boom, but there's no doubt an increase in crime associated 
with the Bakken oilfield in south eastern Saskatchewan is cause for concern.

And it's not just this province that's feeling the effects - the 
Bakken play extends into North Dakota and Montana, where police are 
also dealing with a significant rise in drug trafficking, assaults 
and traffic offences.

All three jurisdictions have seen a huge increase in the number of 
young men working in the oilpatch and while police on both sides of 
the border stress most are well-behaved, some are getting into a lot 
of trouble.

Some of these transient workers, with no support system in place, 
"may perhaps make decisions someone older, or more established with 
more ties to an area, might do differently," RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul 
Dawson told the Leader-post recently.

Much of the trouble seen in Saskatchewan thus far has involved an 
increase in traffic offences that has led to more fatal accidents. A 
six-officer traffic unit has been created in Estevan to deal with the 
problem, but officers are also seizing illegal drugs and discovering 
outstanding warrants for other crimes when they pull drivers over for 
impaired and aggressive driving.

Police and federal agencies south of the border are also beefing up 
their ranks to deal with rising crime, but in a sign of the times the 
Associated Press recently reported some are finding it hard to 
recruit as "qualified applicants will pass over deputy positions that 
start at less than $20 an hour to take oilfield jobs that pay two to 
three times as much."

About 150 police, border security and other law enforcement officials 
from Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Montana met for two days recently 
in Glasgow, Mont., to discuss co-operative crime-fighting strategies. 
The effort has implications well beyond crime related to the 
oilpatch. For example, last year, Saskatchewan and U.S. police and 
law enforcement agencies joined forces in Project Faril, which 
resulted in the seizure of $16.5 million of cocaine destined for 
Canada and $1 million in ecstasy pills destined for the U.S.

The Regina Integrated Drug Unit (RCMP and Regina Police Service) led 
Project Faril and allowed Leader-post reporter Barb Pacholik 
unprecedented access to the investigation over several months, 
culminating in surveillance and arrests. Once those arrests had been 
made, Pacholik wrote a series of feature articles detailing the 
painstaking work that goes into such an investigation.

Call it coincidence, but the RCMP in British Columbia are now 
planning to "embed" a reporter in a similar major investigation. The 
effort could provide the B.C. Mounties with some welcome positive 
press after the 2007 taser death of Polish immigrant Robert 
Dziekanski and allegations of sexual harassment of female RCMP 
members in that province.

The booming oilpatch is a major part of Saskatchewan's current 
economic success, but the associated rise in crime is a challenge for 
the affected communities. They will no doubt be reassured by the 
welcome attention Saskatchewan and U.S. law enforcement agencies are 
devoting to the issue.

As the RCMP'S Sgt. Dawson says, "Criminality moves across borders."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom