Downward trend in theft stats for rural Sask. since 2017 cold comfort for victims of crime

Carson Battersby says the statistics don't help him sleep any better at night.

Battersby has a farm near Big Shell, about 150 kilometres north of Saskatoon. Statistics from the RCMP show that reported thefts in the Prince Albert rural region dropped 31 per cent between 2017 and 2019.

There were 306 thefts reported in 2019, compared to 443 in 2017. Provincially, rural thefts are down five per cent in that time frame.

Battersby has reported two break-ins at his farm in that period. The first involved a group of nine people in three vehicles who invaded his yard in September 2019. They came for his gas tanks.

The second, another group invasion, happened this past July. They came for his tools.

It's frightening and expensive, he said.

"Guys are getting robbed all the time, and you can't do nothing about it," he said.

"The only thing you can do is put up cameras and hide in your house when they come."

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The head of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) said rural crime is a hot topic with its members, especially this time of year.

"Farmers are active, they're apt to be out in their fields and that exposes their property more to theft, even machinery out in the field," said SARM president Ray Orb.

Orb said it's encouraging that the stats are trending down, but he's skeptical that they're telling the whole story.

"Some of the crime could be minor thefts, there could be break-ins where nothing was actually stolen. Maybe they weren't reported, we can't be sure," he said.

"But if the stats are dropping, well, you know what, that's a good thing, that's the kind of thing we're looking for, better results. That doesn't take away the concern, though."

Response times, for instance, remain a sore point. The reality of distances in the country mean that RCMP can often be hard-pressed to get to a crime scene before the damage is done.

The last break-in at Battersby's farm prompted him to make some changes. He's installed security cameras on his property and an alarm set-up across his driveway that rings inside the house when someone enters the yard.

The thieves used a back access road across a field to gain entry this past summer. That's not going to happen again, he said.

"My son has a trackhoe so I just dug a trench across the approach, so basically no one can go across there no more," he said.

"If they're going to come into my yard, they're going to have to come by the house."

Battersby estimates he lost about $3,000 worth of tools in the last break-in. It could have been worse but the thieves were interrupted by his hired hand and run off the property mid-heist, he said.