Regional News-Optimist February 20, 2020

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High visibility patrols are deliberate By Lisa Joy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Gang violence is on the rise in Saskatchewan and the province’s highly trained RCMP Crime Reduction Teams aim to reduce gang activity and make the province safer. The CRT units have the ability to react quickly. “If there is an emergent situation they will deploy rapidly,” said S/Sgt. Darcy Woolfitt of the North Bat-

Sports

Home ice for North Stars Page 10

News

Sask. Party candidates Page 3

Outward Bound JPII Page 5

tleford CRT in an interview Feb. 5. According to Jessica Cantos, Saskatchewan Media Relations, to date, the CRT teams in the province have made 516 arrests. They have laid a total of 424 Criminal Code, Controlled Drug and Substance Act and provincial charges. Of those, 273 were under the CDSA. There are two CRTs operated by the RCMP in Saskatchewan – Prince Albert and North Battleford. Each team has seven RCMP members (one sergeant, one corporal and five constables), as well as one analyst and administrative position. Also, as part of the provincial Gang Violence Strategy, provincially funded police resources in Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Alberta have been reorganized into CRTs. The CRTs perform proactive and reactive policing. Their main goal is to conduct targeted enforcement, or “hotspotting,” based on crime trend analysis, intelligence and consultations with com-

munity leaders. These units focus enforcement efforts on provincial and municipal policing priorities, including gang violence, gun crime and the sale of dangerous drugs such as crystal meth and fentanyl. Their work involves high visibility patrols. “We are in regular RCMP uniforms and drive marked vehicles,” said Woolfitt. “We are totally overt. We don’t hide who we are or what we are doing.” Proactively, the CRT members track chronic offenders, combat streetgang activity and make arrests. CRT members are given target sheets, lists of people they’re assigned to look for and arrest on outstanding warrants. The sheet contains biographical data, warrant changes, known associates and gang affiliates. “We tend to focus on people who have a lot of violent criminal offence convictions, obviously some of those are weapons related and drug related,” said Woolfitt. Continued on Page 2

Super Rim Sale

This was action from the Civic Centre Friday as Meota hammered Spiritwood 10-3 to advance to the semifinals. Photo by John Cairns

SPHL semifinals set: B’fd, Meota both move on By John Cairns Staff Reporter

Playoff matchups are set for the semifinal round in the Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League. The Battleford Beaver Blues will take on the Radisson Wheatkings in one series, with the first game going Saturday night at the Battleford Arena and game two Sunday in Radisson. Meanwhile the Meota Combines and the Turtleford Tigers will meet in the other series. Game one

goes Friday in North Battleford at the Civic Centre, game two is in Turtleford Sunday while game three is in North Battleford Tuesday, Feb. 25. Both series are best-of-five. On Friday, the Combines advanced with a 10-3 home win over Spiritwood to sweep that series in three games. Kyle Gregoire scored four goals for the Combines while Blake Tatchell and Daxen Collins had two-goal nights in the win. The Beaver Blues also advanced Friday with a

lopsided 11-1 win over Maymont to sweep their series. Ten different players got goals for Battleford, with Justin Blacklock scoring two. The other two series each went to a winnertake-all fifth game. After Glaslyn forced a fifth game with a 4-3 win on Saturday, the Tigers came through with a 4-0 win on Sunday to take that series. Meanwhile, the Wheatkings won their series with the Perdue Pirates with a 5-4 overtime win on Sunday.

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