Break and enter suspect apprehended in Raymond: RCMP

Posted on September 5, 2024 by admin

By Heather Cameron
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

During the Town of Raymond Council meeting that took place on September 3, 2024, Sergeant Brad Noss, Commanding Officer of the Raymond/Magrath Detachment and Corporal Travis Norton of the Raymond/Magrath Detachment met with Council.

Sergeant Noss began by sharing statistics from April until the August to provide a snapshot of what the detachment has been up to, stating that out of the 797 calls that the detachment received, 259 were based in Raymond itself. 

The number one complaint, Sergeant Noss stated, was 22 mental health complaints and when the detachment responds to mental health complaints, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes to assess a person. If a person has to be transported, Sergeant Noss explained, they have to be transported to the hospital in Lethbridge, as that is a designated mental health facility while Raymond hospital is not. 

“Waiting at the hospital there can take a long time and meanwhile, that takes a police officer out of the community,” said Sergeant Noss. “If the person isn’t willing to go voluntarily or the ambulance is not equipped to deal with the person’s condition, the Mental Health Act obligates the police to transport them and not leave the hospital until they are admitted.”

The detachment, Sergeant Noss explained, deals with every other RCMP detachment south of Claresholm as well as the City of Lethbridge and so, depending on what has happened that day, such circumstances can contribute to wait times being short or long. When you add up the hours, it does have an impact. It crosses a wide spectrum of people and varying levels of crisis.”

Sergeant Noss also touched upon highlights of investigations that the detachment has been involved in, stating that there was a series of break and enters happening in Coaldale, Raymond, and all throughout Southern Alberta that was finally resolved when Constable Fenimore executed a search warrant in Raymond and recovered a stolen holiday trailer, a motorcycle, and thousands of dollars worth of power tools. The culprit, Sergeant Noss explained, had actually been living in the trailer he had stolen.

Another item Sergeant Noss touched upon was the fact that there is a Rural Property Crime Unit located in Airdrie and south of Airdrie that works proactively and contacted the detachment about a suspect that has been heavily involved in Southern Alberta, buying large quantities of vehicle tires with stolen credit cards. A search warrant, Sergeant Noss said, was eventually executed in Calgary after their surveillance team was sent in and the team observed a transaction of tires being purchased, as the perpetrator purchased 12 tires at a time, and 15 tires, or close to $77,000 worth of tires were recovered.

In terms of policing priorities that the detachment has, Sergeant Noss explained, they are focusing on the community and community engagement. Every quarter, Sergeant Noss explained, the detachment is hoping to have a community presentation in a rented hall or the Senior Centre where they are going to have someone come in and do a presentation on scams or frauds, as that is a very relevant topic right now, and the information can be given out to everyone that way. Visibility and getting out to the far corners of the jurisdiction where police are not seen as often is also a priority the detachment has, Sergeant Noss emphasized.

Council asked if homelessness was an issue, and Sergeant Noss explained that there are those who struggle with the issue, but not to the point where it is a real problem. 

Sergeant Noss then turned some time over to Corporal Norton. Corporal Norton introduced himself, stating that he just relocated to Raymond from Brooks with his wife and three kids and the posting in Raymond is his third year while this is his eighth year of being an RCMP officer. His start point, Corporal Norton stated, was in Killam, and has specific training in VTRA – Violence Threats Risk Assessment.

“It’s stuff that we do with kids to figure out what’s their home life like, what are they doing at school? Are they an empty vessel? What are they filling themselves with?” said Corporal Norton.

Corporal Norton concluded his presentation by stating he is happy to be in the community, be a part of that community and really excited to bring the last eight years of experience I’ve got into the community and just be a big part of it.

Council thanked Sergeant Noss and Corporal Norton for their presentation.