Community Mulls Over Response To Luring Attempt

Community Mulls Over Response To Luring Attempt

Tuesday, October 07, 2008 at 15:25

 

 

Residents of the village of Cumberland House and the Cumberland House Cree Nation are meeting again today in response to a near abduction this weekend on the reserve.

 

Yesterday, residents held an emergency meeting to talk about an incident where three girls were approached by four men in a blue van and offered money.

 

Today, they are meeting again for a planning meeting to discuss emergency responses to such situation.

 

Raymond Chaboyer, a councillor with the Cumberland House Cree Nation, says children and adults need to be taught that an incident like this needs to be reported to police immediately, because that greatly increases the chances of the police catching the suspects.

 

Because there is only one road into the community, he feels they would have had a good chance to round up the suspects if the police had been notified sooner.

 

He notes the incident was reported to police three or four hours after it happened.

 

Chaboyer says other safety measures were recommended at the meeting, such as having video surveillance of the bridge, establishing block parents, and having citizens drive around the community.

 

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Carole Raymond says a citizen patrol is a great tool to use to make communities safer.

 

Raymond says a citizen patrol can be very effective because RCMP can’t be everywhere all the time.

 

However, Raymond also says people have to make sure they are safe when they are patrolling — and remember they are not police and should not go after anyone who appears armed or dangerous.