Police in St. Albert won't be hitting the streets with body-worn cameras any time soon.
Speaking at the regular city council meeting Dec. 3, Staff Sgt. Dwayne Moore said this city won't be starring in any Mountie moving pictures until toward the end of 2025.
That's not because the RCMP is dragging its boots on implementation, but to dovetail with renovations already planned for both St. Albert detachment buildings, according to the interim detachment commander.
The body camera program requires space in the building where video can be downloaded from cameras, and installing it sooner would duplicate effort and waste time and money.
Nationally, the RCMP began to roll the cameras out Nov. 18 and anticipates all detachments to come onboard over the next 12 to 18 months.
Parkland RCMP were to roll-out the new equipment with a demonstration for media at their Spruce Grove detachment today, Dec. 5.
"I’d like to get them in place tomorrow if I could," Moore said. "We actually do want them in place (but) it kind of rolls in with the renovations happening at the two locations.
"When we're ready for them, we'll get those rolled out as soon as we can."
Staffing improved
The five RCMP positions St. Albert city council approved last year have made an impact, according to Moore.
Moore told councillors staffing levels and crime statistics are both moving in the right directions: Up in the former and down in the latter.
“I continue to work with (national RCMP) staffing to fill those positions,” Moore said. “Having those five positions added has been extremely helpful to get to the level of staffing that we need.”
The indicators are connected, according to Moore. He said a number of fully staffed units are improving officer visibility in the city and doing more proactive policing that, in turn, saves time for “general duty” members to respond to more calls, get out to the school zones, perform traffic enforcement and stage check stops, “especially at this time of year.”
The St. Albert detachment’s approved complement is 75; currently, the city is budgeting for 59, according to Moore’s report.
Moore usually contextualizes his comments by mentioning he served as interim commander of the St. Albert detachment from September to the end of 2023.
“At that time, we were fairly short on resources, requiring a significant amount of overtime to fill shifts,” he said. “Since that time, it sounds like staffing has been very generous to the detachment.”
He said he’s working to get more Mounties into the traffic unit, but the plainclothes and crime reduction units, which do much of that proactive police work he referred to, drug investigation unit and CPVS (crime prevention and victim services) unit, are all fully staffed.
The situation has improved on the general duty side, too.
“Last year having those five positions that were added here with the approval of council was extremely helpful,” he said. “We’re doing much better than we were.”
Guess who's coming to dinner?
Moore also said he’s noticed the city’s Policing Advisory Committee getting out in the community and interacting with residents, “something that may not have been happening on a regular basis in the past.”
Mayor Cathy Heron told Moore consultations with city council outside of his regular reports would be welcome — even a "very casual" chat "over dinner or something, so you can hear what we're hearing."
“What’s missing is that communication and consultation, outside of council chambers, with the people you’re talking to right now,” she said.
“(Coun.) Ken MacKay is a good representative and the policing committee does talk to the public, but another great avenue of public knowledge is the council you’re addressing today, so maybe we can work that into future consultations.”
For his part, Coun. MacKay said he appreciated noticing two RCMP members handing out stickers in the mall.
"Stickers are a lot better than tickets, so I think that’s a good initiative."
Moore appreciated the acknowledgement.
"We don’t always have to be the bad guys when we’re out there," he said. "We have our job to do, but any time we can have members out there interacting with the general public in a positive way, I think that’s very beneficial."
