Rural residents encouraged to take precautions, but challenges still exist when trying to bring perpetrators to justice
MEDICINE HAT — New Year’s Day 2023 isn’t a day Redwater, Alta., resident Brad Gulka will soon forget. That’s the day he watched via remote video camera as thieves broke into his home with a large pry bar and walked out with his possessions.
The video, shared with The Western Producer, shows four people as they drive up to Gulka’s home, pry open the door, rob the home and flee.
Gulka wasn’t there at the time but got a notification on his cellphone that something was going on at his house.
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“I called 911 right away, I got on the phone with emergency services, got in contact with RCMP and started telling them the story. As I’m watching on my doorbell camera, I see them prying on my backdoor trying to get it open,” said Gulka.
“It took them about four minutes to get that door open. All the while I’m on the phone with police telling them what’s happening.”
He triggered a siren alarm on one of the cameras but “that didn’t deter them at all.”
The thieves went into his closet and grabbed a locked gun cabinet containing a pair of .22 calibre rifles. Gulka acknowledges the cabinet should have been bolted to the floor or wall.
“So they grabbed the whole cabinet and carried it out,” he said.
A computer and cellphone were also stolen, along with what Gulka called “goofy, little stuff” like his razor and toothbrush.
“They were in there for 15 minutes and then just took off in their car. … Police were another 10 minutes later and the one officer said they did see the vehicle down the highway and took chase but it was high speeds and they stopped the chase due to the possibility of a crash.”
What frustrated Gulka the most was what happened after one of the suspects was identified. The RCMP were able to trace the unique vehicle the thieves were driving and an individual was subsequently arrested by Edmonton police.
“He was held in the remand centre in Edmonton for seven months waiting for trial because of the backlog in court,” said Gulka. “The court date was in August. I went to court, the two investigating officers from the Redwater RCMP detachment showed up but … that arresting officer from Edmonton did not show up.”
The trial held in Fort Saskatchewan resulted in the charges being thrown out due to the absence of the arresting officer.
“They had fingerprints, they had my security video perfectly of his face and I thought it was just stupidity,” said Gulka.
The 47-year-old-man arrested had 41 previous criminal convictions. Gulka is frustrated that such repeat offenders can’t be held longer in prison.
“He’s a lifetime criminal! And now he’s out.”
Such crimes in rural areas of the province appear to be on the rise, said Alberta Citizens on Patrol president Garth Kohlsmith.
He said his organization was recently involved in an early December incident in Linden, Alta., in which thieves stealing gas from a rural residence were caught in the act by the homeowner. Shots were fired and the homeowner’s vehicle was rammed.
“Nowadays, criminals will ram your car if you try to stop them. Like really, they don’t care. They’ll ram police cars,” said Kohlsmith. “They’ll do whatever, they don’t care anymore. It wasn’t like that 40 years ago but today, it’s just a gong show.”
He doesn’t blame police or the government but would like more citizens to get involved in community protection.
“What we’re doing at Citizens on Patrol is we patrol our towns and some rural areas as well,” he said. “(So there is ) a little bit more patrolling and headlights on the road at night. We just observe and report. We don’t get involved, we don’t try and stop them, we don’t have any weapons or anything like that.”
Kohlsmith said the group works collaboratively with police, who identify problem areas where members of Citizens on Patrol will work.
“If we see something, we report it to police,” he said.
Kohlsmith said the group works in several Alberta areas, including Sundre, Drayton Valley, Diamond Valley, Okotoks and Edson, but he laments the reduced number of volunteers in his group and in service clubs over the years.
“Younger people don’t seem to want to do it. I don’t know what it is and if I knew why, we could fix it but I don’t know why.”
Kohlsmith said many crimes in rural areas aren’t reported. He encourages use of security cameras and timely contact with police when thefts occur.
“If you have (cameras), you can catch them. Police come and they get the pictures and away they go. And when they get the pictures, they say, ‘oh, I know that guy,’ they know who they are right away,” he said. “They will come and they will help you.”
There was no response to requests for comment from Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis’s office regarding Alberta government initiatives to deal with rural crime.
