Last week I got a text, “Hey, there are three police blockades in Ndilo. One entering Ndilo, one at the top of the hill leaving Ndilo and one near the stop sign going to the end of the island. Two policemen with rifles spotted.”
Whoa!
I got other texts and people thought they heard a gunshot. It was mentioned, “I guess there is a drone flying around,” and “Holy s#$t! A big manhunt!”
I’m writing about this because people immediately said it must be drug related. It’s amazing how fast we have become used to seeing police with guns during drug busts. In this case, it was reported in the news that someone set off bear bangers.
The day after the Ndilo incident, three police cars were at a house in Fort Resolution. Around 9:30 pm, a local resident was going for a ride and found vehicles blocking the road. They could see blue and red flashing lights. They found a different route also blocked with vehicles.
A neighbour from near the house where the police responded drove away in their vehicle because they were afraid someone might start shooting. No shots were fired, but the neighbour said the RCMP eventually took three people out of the house.
Again, people thought it was drug related. The guy who went for a ride said, “We still don’t know what it was about, but it must be drug related…they should get two-three dogs to sniff around for drugs. There’s so much in town, it isn’t funny.”
“The cops know who’s selling drugs. Everybody knows, but the cops say they can’t do nothing. They should have dogs and bring them along when they get called out. They would catch the drug dealers.”
When I asked what else the police can do about the drug problem, he said, “They should have a roadblock and check cars. There’s only one road coming into Res [Fort Resolution].”
He also said there should be cameras placed at strategic places on the highway so the police can see who’s coming into our towns.
Then he said the police need to improve their system of answering calls for assistance.
“Right now, we have to phone Yellowknife and they call our police station. Then the cops in Res call us. Sometimes it takes an hour to get a call back. And when you call the cops, sometimes they don’t do nothing. One Elder got beat up and nobody got charged. Everybody knows who did it.”
Dene Nation conference
These are the types of things that got the chiefs “fed up” with violence in their communities. Previously, I wrote about the Dene Nation holding a conference on how to improve public safety and crime prevention. I think it’s worth repeating the results.
The RCMP made a presentation and warned leaders not to take matters into their own hands. Leaders should work with the RCMP who are armed and trained to deal with people who are violent and have weapons. Supt. Chris Romanchych said drug traffickers “don’t care about the rules. They don’t care about your safety.”
The RCMP said some things are being done in response to drug-related violence. For instance, they are putting together an NWT top offenders list to help them see where they need to focus efforts to make our communities safer.
They are waiting for the GNWT to pass The Forfeiture Act so they can seize property and money from drug dealers and possibly use it for community programming. They are also working on getting passengers screened for drugs when they fly into the communities.
The RCMP said sometimes the people they arrest are quickly released on bail without proper conditions. That has to change. Also, drug traffickers should receive a jail sentence that reflects the harm they are causing to people.
Task force on drugs
The Dene leadership passed a motion to create a Task Force on Drugs, Alcohol and Community Crime Prevention. The task force will have a representative from each community and will report to the chiefs, who will provide feedback and initiate action.
The leaders want to work with the RCMP, the Department of Justice and other territorial and federal leaders to find solutions and change policies and laws to address the needs the task force identifies.
Some of the things people said they wanted to see included are airport searches for drugs, dogs at airports, banishment of members who sell drugs and better educational programs for young people.
Indigenous policing
The leaders also discussed starting an Aboriginal police force. Comments showed they really liked presentations on Indigenous policing that would allow NWT communities to be in charge of their own policing.
Services provided by southern Indigenous police forces include safe rides, responding to emergencies, and emergency support for search and rescue. They also check on people with social workers, do patrols and highway checkpoints, report to RCMP on surveillance activities, bylaw enforcement, and use K9 units — dogs to sniff out drugs.
Much work would have to be done to start the police force, including passing an NWT Police Act and establishing something like the police commission in Alberta. Funding is a big one. The Alberta Tribal Police are funded 50-50 from the federal government and the Government of Alberta.
I’m glad the chiefs want to do something about public safety and crime prevention. Now, we all need is to participate when the task force comes to our communities.
