St. Albert’s top cop, Insp. Warren Dosko, is taking his approach to crime prevention and community building to a different community effective later this year.
Dosko does not have a firm date for departure yet, but likely in the next three months, he will be moving to Red Deer to take on the position of detachment commander there.
Dosko said the move just seemed like a good fit and he felt it was time for him to move on.
“I am coming up on my fifth year here — it has been four and half years — so I am looking for that new challenge as well,” he said. “It is kind of just the right time, it seems.”
Dosko said Red Deer, as a slightly bigger community, would present some challenges that aren’t present in St. Albert, but he said the local government there also seems to view policing the way he does.
“That is a community that has done a lot of work around social development as well, so for me, it was a really big part of it.”
On a personal level, Dosko said he and his family have really enjoyed St. Albert and it will be a difficult place to leave.
“This has been a great community for our family.”
He said, professionally speaking, he has felt a lot of support from fellow officers, from city staff and council, as well as the community at large.
“They are very supportive of the police and it is a lot easier to work when you are dealing with people who are supportive.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse said Dosko has served the community very well and he is disappointed to see him leave.
He credits Dosko with the community’s 40 Assets program, work around neighbourhood development and the statistical approach to policing.
“These are all the result of his influence.”
Crouse said, on the bright side, Dosko would now bring his approach to another community.
“The good thing is he is going to influence another community and he has left us with a legacy.”
Coun. Cathy Heron, who sat on the RCMP’s community advisory board, said she was deeply disappointed when she heard the news.
“When I read the email on my iPad, I dropped it on the floor and broke it.”
Heron said, as a plus, RCMP detachment commanders normally move once every three years, so the community had Dosko for longer than might have been normal.
“Maybe we should just be grateful we had him for as long as we did.”
She and Crouse agree the city won’t be looking to drastically shift the approach Dosko took to community safety.
Dosko said his replacement could be named in the next three or four weeks and, depending on where he or she is transferring from, could be on the job shortly after that.
He said he hoped there would be some overlap, with a new commander present before he leaves.
