The Alberta RCMP received $2 million from the provincial government to support rural crime monitoring and prevention
A team of RCMP officers dedicated to keeping rural communities safe made significant drug and weapons busts recently.
On June 20, the Rural Organized Crime Team (ROCT), which the provincial government provided $2 million of support for earlier in the month, found drugs and firearms during a traffic stop in Maskwacis, Alta.
During this traffic stop, officers found the following:
- 6 grams of suspected fentanyl;
- 3 grams of suspected cocaine;
- Sawed off rifle;
- 2 loaded home-made shotguns;
- .22 caliber magazine.
As a result, a 34-year-old man from Wetaskiwin was arrested and charged with multiple drug and firearm offenses.
And on June 12, the ROCT along with other police agencies concluded a drug trafficking investigation in the Calgary and Airdrie areas.
This investigation, which included executing search warrants on May 26, saw officers seize items including a 2024 Chevrolet Corvette, multiple firearms, cash, and suspected drugs.
This work resulted in arrests and charged against 33-, 36-, and 70-year-old individuals from Calgary.
The support from the provincial government was part of an $8 million investment into reducing crime across the province.
In 2025, 490 shootings occurred in Alberta with about one third resulting in serious injury or death, the RCMP says.
Recent data from Statistics Canada shows rural communities continue to experience high levels of crime.
A May 2026 report on police-reported crime across Canada in 2024 showed the violent Crime Severity Index (CSI), a measure of the volume and seriousness of police-reported crime, is almost 50 per cent higher in rural areas compared to urban communities.
Rural Alberta had a CSI score of 141.9 that year, and an overall rural crime rate of about 10,830 incidents per 100,000 people, Stats Canada says.
And overall, Alberta’s CSI in rural areas has increased by 24 per cent since 2014.