CITIZENS ON PATROL IN RURAL ALBERTA

  OLDS, Alta. — A town of 9,000 people — the population fluctuates because of the college there — Olds has one of the largest and most enthusiastic of the roughly 70 patrol groups in the province, members of the Alberta Citizens on Patrol Association. A version of the patrol had once existed in Olds, but disbanded in 2016 due to a lack of interest and resources, and an aging membership. But amid concerns about what seems to many like a wave of crime targeting rural communities across the prairies, the Olds patrol has been reborn.

   In the last few years, crime has become the foremost issue in the Alberta countryside. Landowners fear for their property and their families. The belief is that if something happens in the country, the police won’t show up fast enough, meaning people’s families might get hurt or their hard-earned possessions vanish. Rural residents blame the spike in crime on the recession and the collapse in oil prices, and on people who come from the city on crime sprees, perhaps to fund drug habits in the midst of the opioid crisis. There’s talk of a “revolving door” justice system, with its court delays and ineffective handling of repeat offenders. And there’s concern about what people ought to do if they’re victimized, and about what they can do to defend themselves.