We get numerous RCMP news releases here at the office. I read them all, but one issued at the very end of last year got me thinking more seriously about rural crime.
If I’m translating “cop speak” correctly, (cop speak like ‘a local drinking establishment’ when they mean ‘a bar’ and similar phrasing) a farmer was minding his own business one afternoon near Drake, Sask.
He went into the house and found a stranger standing in the master bedroom. The stranger left, and the farmer then discovered some jewelry was missing.
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So says the police report, but one can’t help wondering about the blanks in that story. What about the shock of discovery, the words exchanged and why the farmer allowed the guy to get away?
The description he furnished might have something to do with it: “The suspect is described as six feet tall, completely bald, tattoo on neck, clean shaven, mid-30s, Caucasian, approximately 250 pounds.”
Not someone I’d like to take on, even with home field advantage.
This incident came to mind after reading another account last week about Rodney Macknak of the Cupar, Sask., area. He and his wife were asleep in their rural home in the early hours of Jan. 17 when they heard a noise. They found two guys standing in their house holding some of their belongings.
One of the strangers, whom Macknak later described as “punks,” fled. Macknak held the other one in an arm lock until police arrived. Charges have been laid.
Macknak’s home was locked and the would-be thieves broke in. But not all farm residents routinely lock their doors and windows. Some farmhouses don’t even have locks.
They should.
In late December RCMP told us about a string of 158 rural break and enters that they believe are related, in areas stretching from Fox Creek, Castor and Onoway, Alta., to Lashburn and Kerrobert, Sask.
We can reflect nostalgically on a more innocent time, when doors were left open to friends and neighbours. Of course, it’s not the friends and neighbours we must worry about. It’s the lowlifes who think rural homes are easy targets.
