Members of St. Albert’s Policing Committee will provide feedback on the province’s plan to create a new police oversight body this fall.
Ian Sanderson, chair of the committee, told city councillors Tuesday, Sept. 17 he became aware this week that the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services will consult police advisory bodies across the province.
St. Albert’s big day is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 21.
In May, the committee drafted a resolution for the annual general meeting of the Alberta Association of Police Governance calling on Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis to keep public complaints directors in place for local policing commissions and committees province wide.
Co-sponsored by the Camrose Police Commission, it passed unanimously.
Sanderson said the committee learned those positions could be lost during consultations on the Police Amendment Act. He said K Division has expressed its willingness and desire to participate in such a new police review process.
Coun. Ken MacKay, who is also on the policing commission and is a retired police officer said “the biggest piece is there is concern around us losing the police complaints director and the vital role that has within our community.”
Sanderson added the minister’s office responded just this week, and that the committee would forward that correspondence to city council.
Sanderson said concern that the ministry didn’t release a public report based on those consultations was felt “across the province.
“It appears that … at high levels in the ministry, they don’t see the value in releasing those reports,” he said. “We took issue with that … We’ll see where that one lands.
“I don’t know if there will be a ‘what we heard’ report coming out of the new police review commission, so I think it’s important everybody has a chance to say and hear what’s going on with respect to that.”
Post-pandemic public relations
Speaking of conversations, Sanderson said the Covid-19 pandemic stopped any efforts by the committee at community engagement in their tracks.
He said the St. Albert community has lost awareness of the committee’s goings-on but still supports civilian oversight of policing, and that their new 2024-27 strategic plan calls for “significant” community engagement and collaboration with other groups.
“Our staffing levels became a major concern as we came out of the pandemic,” Sanderson recalled, as a positive example of the potential for civilian influence on the police. “This wasn’t unique to St. Albert, but we recommended a plan for a local strategy to address concerns … on the impact shortages were having on service delivery and on the staff at the detachment.
“Council’s action on this suggestion … certainly, played a part in turning this situation around. A year later, staffing levels are significantly improved, and we are less concerned about impact to service delivery.”
