By Chris Brown

Platform launched in May 2020

RCMP urging rural Albertans to use online crime reporting

Jan 6, 2021 | 11:40 AM

Rural Albertans are being encouraged to use the online crime reporting platform RCMP launched in the spring of 2020.

From May 31 to Nov. 30, more than 780 reports were submitted through online crime reporting, with the majority of those coming from urban areas.

“These reports assist us in crime analysis, aids us in establishing trends and patterns, and ultimately leads our investigators to the chronic offenders. It also assists us in making decisions about how and where to deploy resources,” reads a release from RCMP. “Crimes reported online will be taken just as seriously as crime reported in any other way.”

Select property crimes under $5,000 can be reported on the platform, and RCMP say reporting them this way helps emergency call takers and frontline members focus their time on high-priority calls.

Residents can also include photos of your stolen or lost property in their reports.

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The Police Reporting and Occurrence System (PROS) Data Centre processes all online crime reports. The PROS Data Centre is a centralized data centre team that handles records management and routine data entry to allow frontline officers to focus on policing our communities, not doing administrative work. From Dec. 1, 2019 – Nov. 30, 2020 the PROS Data Centre handled over 58,500 requests which saved officers, approximately, over 20,000 hours of time in front of a computer. Of those requests, over 780 came from online crime reporting.

After the PROS Data Centre processes the reports, they are sent to the Call Back Unit (CBU). The CBU is a specialized team of RCMP members designed to handle non-emergency calls for service in an effort to create efficiencies in our service. From Dec. 1, 2019-Nov. 30, 2020 the CBU diverted and answered over 8,300 calls for service which is equivalent to approximately 22,300 hours of service or 18.5 General Duty Constables’ workloads over the past 12 months.

“Our number one priority is the safety and security of the public and of our officers,” say RCMP. “We are committed to providing the most effective, efficient policing possible and being responsive to the ever-changing policing needs in Alberta. Help us help you. Pick up the phone and report crime and suspicious activity to your local RCMP detachment, or go online to report eligible property crimes at https://ocre-sielc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/alberta/en.