Councillors from each Inverness County district each spoke about what they would like to see
prioritized by the RCMP during a recent regular meeting.
Speeding was a consensus among all councillors. And some have been hearing about issues of vandalism in the county and telephone scams targeting seniors.
Councillor John MacLennan said along with speed issues, he has been getting quite a few complaints in District 4 about ATV’s travelling long distances on highways and roads they shouldn’t be operating on.
Warden Bonnie MacIssac, who represents District 3, said she wants impaired driving to be one of the RCMP’s priorities for her community in the upcoming year.
District 5 councillor Lynn Chisholm said while all of the above was an issue in her community, vandalism is becoming an issue. Chisholm said there was also a local business who had a light post broken, and vandalism has been happening outside the community as well.
Chisholm said there is a hub built specifically for the RCMP at the municipal building in Port Hood, adding she would like to see it be utilized and for the RCMP to create more of a presence in the community.
The warden said catching the acts of vandalism would curb it from continuing to keep happening in the future.
Council agreed the RCMP need to catch acts of vandalism while it happens to stop it, adding an increased visibility and community checks on a regular basis would be a big step.
The amount of RCMP officers on the municipality’s payroll also came up during the discussion. The CAO confirmed they are currently paying for approximately 16 roles at the detachment. Council decided that they would ask the local detachment Sgt. to come in and provide an update to council on the RCMP’s work being done in the community.
Aside from vehicles and vandalism, Councillor Blair Phillips said some residents have been dealing with telephone scams focusing on seniors. MacIsaac said it’s tough for police to do anything on this, but an educational program for seniors about these types of scams would be beneficial.
Phillips said he would get in touch with the local Senior’s Group in Margaree to put on this type of program and added education for seniors to his list of priorities.