Rural crime talk of the town in western Manitoba after Mountie shot near Onanole

When Gregg Campbell finished combining wheat for the day and noticed his pickup truck was gone, he thought a fellow farmer might have borrowed it.

But when he phoned his neighbours and they said they hadn't taken the 2013 Toyota Tundra that he left parked in a field northeast of the southwestern Manitoba city ofBrandon, he realized he, too, was the victim of rural property crime.

"I went, 'This is absolutely ridiculous.'"

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The armed break-in happened on Aug. 21 eight days before Cpl.GraemeKingdon, an RCMP officer, was left badly wounded after being shot while responding with another officer to a report of a break-in near Onanole, about65 kilometres from Campbell's farm.

Fourmen have been charged in connection with the shooting.

"I think it's going to bring it to a head that this is happening in the rural area and it needs to be addressed," said Campbell, referring to the shooting.

StatsCanproperty crimes data

Lloyd Ewashko, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Harrison Park, which includes Onanole, said there has been an increase in break-insover the past three years but noneas serious as the RCMP shooting last week.

"It has been a topic over the summer when talking to residents in the area. Common theme as of late is someone is going to get hurt [and] someone did,"he wrote in an email.

Statistics Canada data from the last five years for the RCMP'sYellowheaddetachment area says that in some years property crime went up by double digit percentages, while in other years it went down.

The number of property crimes in 2017 was 16 per cent higher than in 2013, according to the data, although the 2017 number was lower than in each of the three previous years.

The number of property crimes rose each year from 2013 to 2016.

The RCMP said data from itsWasagamingdetachment, whose members police Onanole and other communities around Riding Mountain National Park, suggest there havebeen about 20 break-insin the area in the past eight months.

"They're like every community in Manitoba. There are some reports here and there. They kind of go in spurts," said RCMPmedia relations officer Sgt. Paul Manaigre.

"The trend right now is not showing any concerns as far as crime rings, large rash of break and enters."

'Let the experts handle it': RCMP

Manaigre said rural residents should not take matters into their own hands even if a robber comes onto their property, pointing out that property owners can't know if the person they're confronting is armed.

"We don't want people getting injured. We're trained for these particular incidents. Let the experts handle it," he said.

"Property can be replaced. People injured or even killed we can't replace that."

• Officer shot in 2015 helped take down Onanole suspects

Asked to respond to concerns that RCMP might take too long to respond to a rural break-in, Manaigre said residents should still call police instead of trying to deal with the situation themselves.

He pointed to last week's armed break-inas proof Mounties do go out to calls.

"The situation shows that officers attended and we responded and that's what we encourage."

The Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada and the National Police Federation, which has applied to represent 18,000 Mounties as a union, both said last week the RCMP is understaffed and needs more members throughout the country.

RCMPsay Alberta rural crime strategy paying off

One province where the RCMPhave seen an increase in resources is Alberta, where rural crime has also been a big problem.

The provincial government devoted $10 million earlier this year to tackle the issue by hiring more RCMP officers, civilian staff and Crown prosecutors. On Tuesday, RCMP said that's paid off, with rural crime falling by 11 per cent in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period the year before.

• Alberta property crime dips with $10MRCMP strategy

Back in Manitoba, though, Campbell still hasn't gotten his truck back and is just glad insurance will cover the estimated $20,000 replacement cost. But he'd like to see tougher penaltiesto stop the crimes from happening in the first place.

"I think the law's a little too lenient," he said.

"It's getting to the point where the law is absolutely nothing to these people."