Rural crime is one topic that the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities is hoping the provincial parties have in mind as the election continues.
Both the Saskatchewan Party and the Saskatchewan NDP have announced measures to expand police capabilities, through the Saskatchewan Marshals Program and hiring more RCMP officers, respectively.
SARM's Acting President Bill Huber says that the issue is critical for those living in smaller communities in the province.
"Rural crime continues to escalate across Canada. In Saskatchewan alone, it's posing significant challenges to the community and the well-being of our ratepayers and Members in rural communities."
Huber says that some of the work they already do has to continue to keep people safe.
"We work with the government and the ministries quite regularly throughout the year and also the opposition. But rural communities are experiencing a crime rate increase of 6.4 per cent higher than urban regions in the province. Public safety is of the utmost importance for our Members in real communities. So SARM is a strong advocate that there needs to be more tools and resources to combat some of this rural crime in Saskatchewan.
The biggest call for Huber comes in the form of more boots on the ground in Saskatchewan.
Both parties have solutions that line up with that, between the Marshals Service and hiring more RCMP officers.
Huber says that SARM has let it be known what its members want to see.
"Our membership at our last convention has made it very clear to us that through resolutions not to oppose the Saskatchewan Marshall Service. We've met recently with the Chief Marshall, Rob Cameron, to clarify what the role of the Marshalls would be and they basically outlined that. They're going to try and place most of the offices in the northern part of the province and they're going to try and deal with some of the heavy crime."
After the election, Huber says that SARM is well-positioned to work with whichever party is in power.
"We met recently too with Rhonda Blackmore of the Assistant Chief Commissioner F division here in Regina, we have a natural working relationship with her and they've done a lot of things in the RCMP to improve things in rural Saskatchewan and they're aware of the problems. They're working to try and make it more visible in rural Saskatchewan to have police cruisers and stuff in communities that are sort of remote and not densely populated, more isolated.