Alberta village mayor wants tax break for rural crimefighters

The mayor of Carbon, Alta., is asking for some help fighting rural crime in the central Alberta village.

According to Guss Nash, crime is a growing problem in the area and he'd like the federal government to provide a tax credit to volunteers who patrol their neighbourhoods.

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"In the last year or so our little grocery store was broken into three times. Garage once. We've had vehicles stolen," Nash said.

Nash is a member of a group called Citizens on Patrol, which looks for suspicious activity. Nash said he'd like to see a tax break for volunteers similar to what's already in place for volunteer firefighters and search and rescue.

"We have problems trying to keep COP members because it is quite expensive," he said

"If you're out there when it's –30 C or –40 C and you're idling your vehicle to stay warm, it costs quite a bit to put fuel in your vehicle," he said. "We can't write nothing off or anything like that. We're just out of pocket."

Nash said he would like the tax break to kick in after 200 hours of volunteering. He has started a petition to send to Ottawa.

Carbon is located about 110 kilometres northeast of Calgary.

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