Hay River (Nov 15/04) - More and better communication between police and the communities they serve was discussed at a gathering last week in Hay River.

And following the day-long South Slave Policing Consultation on Nov. 9, it appeared progress had been made towards reaching that goal.

Hay River RCMP Sgt. Greg Downing discussed a display of illegal drugs with Fort Resolution's Dollie Lafferty, centre, and Faye Aviugana at a community policing consultation. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I think everyone coming together created more awareness of what the RCMP can and cannot do," said Faye Aviugana, co-ordinator of the Fort Resolution Community Justice Committee.

Louise Beck, co-ordinator of the Fort Smith Victim/Witness Assistance Program, said the consultation was excellent.

"I think we really started to build some bridges in all our local communities."

Chief Karen Felker of West Point First Nation was impressed the RCMP are reaching out to communities.

"More organizations should do more stuff like that," she said.

About 75 people participated in the consultation from Hay River, Fort Smith, the Hay River Reserve, Kakisa, Fort Resolution, Enterprise, Fort Providence and Lutsel K'e.

They joined a dozen RCMP officers from the South Slave and "G" Division headquarters, along with representatives from other public safety organizations.

The consultation -- a project of the First Nations Policing Policy -- was part of a series sponsored by the RCMP, the GNWT and the federal Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

"The big thing I see is a lack of communications between communities and our organization," said Insp. Greg Morrow of the RCMP's "G" Division.

Morrow said the meeting was a learning experience for police.

Shirley Kemeys-Jones, the assistant deputy minister of justice, said the meeting was not designed to discuss specific problems, although some did come up. One was a general worry about increasing crime, such as the use of crack cocaine and whether it would increase in the future.

Kemeys-Jones said people also had concerns about contacting the police at night and on weekends, when calls go to a dispatcher in Yellowknife.

Another issue was that police should make more of an effort to introduce themselves to community members.

One idea was that a local family sponsor a new Mountie to offer an introduction to the culture and people.

The information gathered will go into a final report on a Northern policing strategy for the NWT, Nunavut and Yukon. The report is due out in October 2005.