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This morning, the Commander of the Rural Eastern Division told us that they need the communities in their jurisdiction to make sure that they don't get complacent.

ACP Edward Broaster - OC, Eastern Division Rural
"They need to be very vigilant. We had last week a couple guys coming with weed wackers pretending to be cutting yard and attempted to burglarize several homes. Fortunately, we were on top of them and they had to run and leave their weed wacker. Talk to your neighbors and let them know what's happening. We have people like for example in the Lake Garden area and other areas forming their WhatsApp chat so that they can communicate with each other and report suspicious activity and really communicate with one another. in terms of, for example yesterday there was another truck with weed whackers and these were legitimate guys this time, but the neighbors communicated to the police as well to other neighbors and we were able to sort things out. Burglary normally peaks between November and February in most areas. The best thing for you to do is to really notify your neighbors, talk to them, see who's around and report suspicious activity no matter how frivolous it might seem. Please feel free to call us and let us know if you see any suspicious activity in your neighborhood and if you're not sure, let us check it out."

In the Hattieville area, there was a recent burglary in the Sunset Park area where a group of minors broke into a home. Police were notified in time, and they foiled the robbery, and caught the thieves.

There were 2 other burglaries, where the thieves sabotaged the electricity meters. They were trying to cut power so to the house that they could bypass the trigger for the alarm system. In one instance, a backup power kicked in, and police were alerted of the crime in progress. In the other instance, a vigilant next door neighbour called the cops after she saw suspicious men lurking around.

So, to assure the public that rural police are doing all they can to stop crimes in progress, the commanders are expanding their QR scan program. You'll remember it as the system launched in October, which uses barcodes and a barcode reader. These barcodes are strategically placed, and with GPS mapping, it enables the commanders to monitor the officers on patrol. Broaster told us that the other communities in their jurisdiction are now requesting it in their area:

ACP Edward Broaster - OC, Eastern Division Rural
"It's working better than we expected. We are having a meeting tonight with members of the residence of the Ladyville area at Nans. I thinks it as 7 o'clock tonight and we'll be discussing that program for other areas in neighborhoods other than the business community within Ladyville. So they too will be looking at purchasing a couple Cat phones for us as well."

Broaster told us that the different community watch whatsapp groups have been very successful to the point where community members want to purchase the required gadgets to help police increase the area of their barcode patrol tool.