BONNYVILLE – MD of Bonnyville council wants to make sure items delivered in rain, snow, hail, and sun arrive safely.
Council passed a motion during their Dec. 2 meeting to pen a letter to Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs and Fort McMurray-Cold Lake MP David Yurdiga requesting upgraded mailboxes be installed within the municipality for increased security.
After hearing that mailboxes had been broken into in hamlets across the municipality, Coun. Marc Jubinville asked "if there’s a potential for better boxes or if there’s something that can be done about it."
According to general manager of environmental protective services Matt Janz, the public safety department was aware of break-ins that had occurred recently.
“The director of public safety has met with both detachments to talk about their drive-bys, what the RCMP are doing for further investigation, and if they’re increasing patrols,” he detailed. “Both detachments have said they’re increasing patrols on rural post office boxes, also our department has increased patrols.”
Bonnyville RCMP Sgt. Kim Hillier said members complete focused patrols on identified areas, such as the Fort Kent mailbox bank, that are crime targets.
“Mailboxes are an easy way for would-be identity thieves to gather people’s personal information, possibly steal a cheque or package and the super mailboxes are a huge target,” she detailed. “I think it’s a great idea to sign up for a direct deposit for any payments, refunds, or income supports that people may be receiving to eliminate the theft of those cheques. Communications with Revenue Canada should be done online as that would also eliminate the theft of tax assessment documents.”
There are an average of 100 focused patrols a month, Hillier stated, in a month on top of all of the calls that are responded to.
“My members are very engaged in pro-active patrolling as a piece in the puzzle of combating crime in our area.”
Over the past year, Hillier said the Bonnyville detachment has received four rural complaints of mailboxes being broken into and 16 from within the Town of Bonnyville.
One issue Janz noted was that "most of the break-ins have been happening between midnight to about 6 a.m."
He added, “But, realizing most of the people do pick up their parcels before that so hopefully they aren’t getting away with too much.”
While the mailboxes fall under federal jurisdiction, Coun. Ed Duchesne wondered if there was anything that could be done on a municipal level.
“We have lighting over some sites and I see La Corey did something there, some lights. I can’t recall what Ardmore has, but can we put a camera on there or something to let it be known that they’re being watched?”
CAO Luc Mercier responded, “I think anything is always an option we can look at. My concern would be if we do it there and not in other spots, is the onus then being put on the MD to take over a different issue that’s either Canada Post or the RCMPs? With that said, I think it would be because then we would be putting cameras in all of the spots... in my mind, if we put the letter from the MD to request Canada Post to upgrade the mailboxes because I think that’s the very first step and that might solve the problem. Then we don’t have to do anything.”
Letters will be sent to MP Stubbs and Yurdiga requesting the mailboxes are upgraded to prevent further thefts.
