Some of the many recovered stolen items that are currently sitting in the MHPS property room. (CHAT News photo).

By Alex McCuaig

Regional Police Unit

New police task force to tackle regional property crime

Jun 8, 2020 | 4:27 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A new rural crime fighting unit has been launched, utilizing city police, RCMP and the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) to tackle property crime in southeastern Alberta.

The Southeast Alberta Property Crime Unit has already been operating in earnest and, according to Medicine Hat police Chief Andy McGrogan, it’s building on the success of the city’s priority street crime unit by regionalizing it with the help of the Mounties.

“I know we’re already killing it,” said McGrogan of the new unit. “We’ve been in place for a month and we’ve had some great successes with stolen vehicles.”

McGrogan says an RCMP forensics officer will be embedded with the MHPS with the unit operating in a similar fashion as what city police currently do regionally with the Mounties in combating drug proliferation and organized crime in the area.

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“We’ve also seen a need to work together with the RCMP because these criminals don’t know borders,” said McGrogan. “We’ve got two chains of continuity – MHPS and the Mounties doing their thing – but a lot of times these things come together.”

McGrogan says the funding for the unit is part of the $50 million announced last fall for the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT). A portion of that fund will go towards the wages of three Mounties and one MHPS officer over the next two years.

Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer was originally scheduled to make the announcement Monday in Medicine Hat. That visit to the city was postponed to a yet to be determined date.