SARM stands for the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, and the organization holds a convention every year on the second week of November. The convention is free and open to the public, but mainly consists of nearly 1,000 administrators, reeves, and councillors that have been chosen by the rural municipalities that are a part of the Association.

Rural municipalities and RCMP met at the annual SARM conference last week.

Curtis Zablocki, the new head of Saskatchewan’s RCMP did a presentation during the SARM convention about how more community engagement could help prevent rural crime. Zablocki encouraged rural municipalities to put in place chapters of Rural Crime Watch, Agriwatch and Citizens on Patrol to help out the RCMP.

During the convention the rural municipality of Biggar requested that the Trespass to Property Act be revised so that people would need to have permission from the property owners before setting foot on private property.

Ray Orb, president of SARM also spoke at the conference about how the organization would like more RCMP to be employed by the province, but realizes funding is limited and would like to see more community programs, and increased citizen involvement with law enforcement.

The issues brought up during the SARM convention will continue to be discussed this week at a special meeting of Saskatchewan’s Task Force on policing.