While there's been much talk of rural property owners taking matters into their own hands at a series of rural crime meetings this week, a Senior Peace Officer with Lacombe County hopes that frustration can be fuelled into steps they can take to protect their properties and families.

Mark Sproule talked to those in attendance at last night's meeting at Lincoln Hall about crime prevention through environmental design.

The county is into their 2nd year of offering free property inspections for residents, offering up tips to prevent them from falling victim to crime.

He explains some of the areas they look at.

“landscaping around your house, are shrubs and trees surrounding your house so that nobody can see in if there is a criminal on your property, either scoping the place or carrying the big screen TV out of your house so landscaping is a big part of it.  Lighting is another key component to it.  Are the areas around your house well lit, are they lit to the extent that a criminal doesn’t have a spot to hide?”

Sproule also points to access controls to your property as another area to consider.

“Does your property have a gate, is there a sensor at the end of your driveway.  Some of the cheap and effective ways people can protect their property is on accesses to a property that aren’t being used put a round bale out at that entry way to prevent a vehicle from using that entranceway onto your property, motion lights, and alarms”.

Beautification projects can also go a long way.

“When a place looks well-kept and taken care of, it shows that someone lives here, someone takes pride in this property and there is more likely to be somebody there to deter someone if they go onto that property”.

Lacombe County will be hosting a crime prevention training course for municipal staff at the end of the month.  Particularly on the planning and development side as they'll be reviewing plans that come in to the county and giving recommendations to builders on ways they can target harden their property before it's even built, simple design changes to help prevent future criminal activity.

Red Deer-Lacombe MP Blaine Calkins hosts one last rural crime meeting tonight (Jan 10th) at the Liberty Hall starting at 6:30.