The Alberta RCMP arrested 14 priority offenders as part of a two-week province-wide blitz that ended on Dec. 5, according to an announcement made on Thursday. "These operations are very important to the safety of Albertans as they allow for the use of varied specialized units to target prolific and priority offenders and thus being proactive in our policing approachâ said S/Sgt. Luke Halvorson, Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge of Community Safety. RCMP officials arrested 14 priority offenders, laid more than 40 new criminal charges, executed over six arrest warrants, and recovered six stolen vehicles between Nov. 24 and Dec. 5. .Alberta's RCMP rank their roughly 85,000 unique offenders using the Crime Severity Index, which assesses individuals based on the harm they have caused.Among the 14 offenders arrested was Christopher Stebbings, Alberta's 27 ranked offender.Stebbings and Aaron Robertson, who is the 2816 ranked offender in the province, were arrested on Nov. 19 in Parkland, after officers saw them driving a pair of stolen vehicles.Five RCMP units worked together to pursue and arrest the offenders stop them after one suspect rammed into a police vehicle, and a spike belt stopped the other.."Without assistance from these various units, it is unlikely that both would have been caught that day," Halvorson said.Stebbing was charged with five offences, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and assaulting a police officer.Robertson was charged with five offences and also had an additional warrant out for his arrest for extortion with a weapon."Certainly, we're very concerned," Halvorson said. "One of the offenders, Aaron Robertson, had warrants for extortion with firearm, so certainly there's evidence to say that he very recently been in possession of a firearm.""So, our officers are always very cognizant of the risk of that, and we try to mitigate that by using all the resources available to us and trying to slow it down.".The blitz targeted individuals known or suspected of involvement in crimes against critical infrastructure sites, an area that Holvorson said was a priority for industry partners."Typical (critical infrastructure sites) are easy to target," Halvorson said. "They're often in rural areas, very remote, not in neighbourhoods. So you can easily get in and out without being detected.""It's very challenging for the police to use traditional surveillance techniques or hot spot patrols to detect it, because really no one should be on these roads, and so if these offenders are seeing you know activity, they're going to get spooked and not commit crime."On Nov. 26, officers arrested Adam Filipcic, the province's 127-ranked offender, in Lethbridge.Filipcic was being followed when officers observed him trying to steal lumber. The RCMP then attempted to arrest Filipcic, but he fled and was followed by RCMP Air Services to an associate's residence, before officers arrived and arrested him.Filipicic was charged with six offences, including possession of a weapon for dangerous purposes, and two counts of failure to comply with a court order..Videos and descriptions provided by Alberta RCMPVideo 1 (up to 5:00): "Shows police setting up to intercept 2 vehicles driven by Stebbings and Robertson on Highway 16. The vehicle driven by Stebbings crossed the media and drove against oncoming traffic. Further in the video, you see him going offroad and getting stuck to subsequently be arrested."Video 2 (between 5:00 and 8:25): "Shows a spike belt being deployed on the vehicle driven by Robertson, who keeps driving even after losing some rubber. He is later arrested in the video."Video 3 (after 8:25) "Shows the vehicle in Lethbridge being followed by RCMP Air Services and being seen stealing wood."
