Alberta's Minister of Justice Doug Schweitzer stopped by Okotoks on Thursday to meet with Highwood MLA RJ Sigurdson.

Schweitzer is embarking on what he's dubbed a rural crime tour. The tour will bring Schweitzer to municipalities across the province, consulting with MLAs and municipal groups on ways to help curb rural crime.

It was recently announced that Schweitzer and Sigurdson would be working together on the UCP's Rural Crime Committee.

Schweitzer says his goal with the tour is to visit as many municipalities as possible around the province before legislature resumes in October.

"We want to make sure we get to as many communities as we can," he said. "So when we start rolling out the different policy initiatives that we've committed to, we can make sure they are truly reflective of where Albertans are today."

Of our local MLA, Schweitzer says Sigurdson has already made an impact in Edmonton.

"RJ has been an amazing advocate for (rural crime), and it's not just here in Okotoks, it's across the province," Schweitzer said.

He says the UCP is working to consult with community members on their platform.

"We want to start talking about how we can implement our platform," Schweitzer said. "Because we don't want to do this in a vacuum. We've seen here with the rural crime watches that have popped up, and seen a lot of success, and started to bend the curve on rural crime across our province."

Recent reports have said that Foothills County's $150,000 investment to hire off-duty police to patrol rural areas had helped drop crime rates by 30 per cent. Schweitzer says local initiatives like this are something he wants to hear more about.

"One of the things we want to talk to communities about on this rural crime tour, is how (the government can) empower municipalities," he said. "If they think that's the best way to invest their resources, we want to talk to them about that and how we can execute it."

For Schweitzer, the impression he wants to impart on Albertans is that he believes the UCP is fighting for residents in less metropolitan areas, like the Foothills.

"The biggest message that I want to let Albertans know is that you now have a government that understands this issue. That has dedicated people like RJ here locally, that are committed to making sure you're heard and you have a voice in this government that's going to make sure we fight for you every single day."

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