MULGRAVE – After weeks of break-ins, vehicle thefts, suspicious activity and a fire that displaced seniors from a Tower Rd. apartment building, Mulgrave Mayor Ron Chisholm says residents need to lock up, watch out for each other and help police reclaim the town’s sense of safety.
“The big thing is put your name to it,” he told The Journal last week after a public meeting with the RCMP late last month. “Get these guys. Arrest them. Give [police] a statement and get them locked up because we want our town back. That’s the only way it’s going to happen.”
Chisholm said he called the town hall meeting June 29 after residents began asking what was happening in the community and what they could do to protect their homes, vehicles and neighbours.
About 70 people attended, despite the meeting falling on graduation night. For a town of 627 people, he noted, the turnout spoke loudly. “It looked pretty good from where I was sitting.”
The meeting followed what Chisholm described as a sharp and unsettling change in a community where many residents once left their doors unlocked, their keys in their vehicles and lawn equipment sitting outside overnight. Today, he said, many residents are installing security cameras, locking vehicles and thinking twice about leaving anything visible or unsecured.
“You can’t leave anything out,” he said. “Everybody’s got security cameras now. I know even myself, I’ve put security cameras on my house.”
RCMP statistics show property-related crime calls in Mulgrave increased by 11 files between Jan. 1 and July 1, compared with the same period last year.
In an email to The Journal last week, Staff Sgt. Kenny Parsons of the Inverness District RCMP said the increase includes six mischief files this year compared with four last year; three break and enter files compared with one; one unlawfully in a dwelling file compared with none; one arson file compared with none; two theft of vehicle files compared with one; three possession of stolen property files compared with none; and one theft over $5,000 file compared with none.
Together, those categories amount to 17 property-related crime files in the first half of 2026, compared with six during the same period in 2025.
“There have been arrests made which we believe will have a positive effect in reducing property-related crime in Mulgrave,” Parsons wrote.
Parsons said he and Sgt. Lance Wood attended the Mulgrave town hall, where they discussed crime statistics, increased proactive police presence in the community, Neighbourhood Watch and Citizens on Patrol.
Chisholm said the RCMP has already stepped up its presence in town. “We have two [RCMP] members that live in the town,” he noted in a CBC interview. “They do a drive-through before every shift and after every shift. Presence makes a big difference.”
The mayor said the recent unease began after the May 31 fire at Mulgrave Manor on Tower Rd., which destroyed the apartment building and displaced senior residents. The RCMP has said that fire is among suspicious fires being investigated for possible links to a homicide investigation in Upper Big Tracadie.
Chisholm told The Journal he believes the surge is connected to drug use, poverty and social stress affecting communities beyond Mulgrave, but he said his immediate concern is local: protecting residents, many of them seniors, who no longer feel as secure in their own town. “It’s a sad way to be that you can’t do anything in your own yard or leave anything in your own yard without fear somebody coming in and taking it.”
At the town hall, RCMP raised the possibility of Neighbourhood Watch and Citizens on Patrol. Chisholm said Mulgrave had a community watch program years ago, but it faded because the town was quiet and had little need for it. Now, he said, residents want to know what a renewed program would involve.
“I said, basically what we’re doing now, watch out for your neighbours. If you see something suspicious, call the RCMP.”
Chisholm said the town will likely hold another meeting to explain community watch options and keep residents informed as police release more information.
For now, he said, the advice is simple: lock up, watch out for neighbours and call police when something looks wrong.
“Make sure everything is locked and solid. It’s not a guarantee they’re not going to break in, but it is a deterrent.”
