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“In the old days you’d just get in your car or horse trailer or whatever, you’d just drive off and leave everything open and go do your thing,” Minue said. “Now . . . everything needs to be locked.”

Minue said property owners outside of town are an easy target for criminals, and landowners have few options when faced with an intruder.

“What, are we supposed to sit back and let these thieves come in?” she said. “I mean, I don’t blame the RCMP, they can only go so fast and do what they can do. But you’re supposed to sit there, watch them come in and threaten your family, take your stuff and just say, ‘can you come help me?’ ”

She said she feels Maurice should never have been charged, and punishing the homeowner only lets thieves know that victims have no way to protect themselves.

Photo by Jim Wells / Jim Wells/Postmedia

Kevin Avram, a director with the Grassroots Alberta Landowners Association, said the charges against Maurice only embolden criminals.

“It’s a message to criminals that they have carte blanche,” Avram said. “The RCMP and the system is sending signals to all these criminals that they can come on our property.”

The RCMP said rural detachments in Alberta have seen a 16 per cent increase in Criminal Code offences over the past five years.

But it’s not just people living on the outskirts of Okotoks who have noticed an uptick in crime, with some businesses reporting an increased number of encounters with criminals.

The owners of Boot Hill Gallery said vandalism and break-ins along Elizabeth Street have become more common over the past few years, and Stuart Gardner, a salesman at Cycle Works Motorsports, said his customers are often the victims of thieves.