Sergeant Paul Gagné of the Sackville RCMP says that police have identified suspects related to the string of suspicious fires that have taken place in Upper Sackville since May.
“While I can’t get into specifics to protect ongoing investigations,” says Gagné, “we have identified suspects in connection to some of the incidents.”
There have been four suspicious fires in Upper Sackville which are being investigated separately, says Gagné, but also treated as connected due to their close proximity near the intersection of Upper Aboujagane Road and Pond Shore Road.
In just one case so far, a person has been charged.
Gagné says the RCMP has received some tips they are exploring, and welcomes any information the public may have. However Gagné also says the incidents have generated rumours which are not always accurate. “I appreciate the concerns of the people in the area,” says Gagné. “Some of the recent incidents have been troubling, especially the tragic homicide of Jamie Leard. However, the attention on these files has generated a lot of rumours, speculation, and conjecture, the majority, or some of which is exaggerated and/or completely inaccurate,” says Gagné.
Gagné says that the RCMP is monitoring crime trends. “At this point, our calls for service for serious crimes in the Sackville area are not substantially different from previous years, and are representative of normal fluctuations,” says Gagné.
RCMP RESPONSE TIMES QUESTIONED AT COUNCIL MEETING
Last week at Sackville town council, local resident Kevin Read stood up at question period to ask councillors to look into RCMP response times. Read cited the recent suspicious fires in Upper Sackville and complained that RCMP response times were not up to snuff, considering the amount that the town pays for RCMP protection.
“My main question is,” said Read, “if we’re paying this kind of money, why everybody in town doesn’t feel safe right now?”
“When you have something in the line of arson, attempted murder, or whatever they want to call it, and it takes an hour for the RCMP to respond,” said Read. “When the office is right here, it’s in a beautiful $15 million building, and we’re not getting any response. That should have been responded to the same as the Fire Department.”
Outside the meeting, Read said his concern was not just for response times to recent incidents in Upper Sackville, but also for more run of the mill incidents in town, like motor vehicle accidents. He’s concerned that at times there are no Sackville RCMP officers on duty within 15 minutes of town.
CAO Jamie Burke told Read the town would check with the Sackville detachment to ask for data on the RCMP’s response times.
Gagné will not give details of who or how many are on duty at any specific time, but says there are officers on duty to respond to emergencies. “There are always enough RCMP police officers to respond to urgent priority calls and to ensure officer safety,” says Gagné.
