Latest news with #AlbertaSheriffsPoliceService
CBC
02-07-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Alberta names provincial police force, appoints former Calgary officer as first chief
Alberta's government has named its own provincial police force and announced its first chief. Premier Danielle Smith says former deputy Calgary police chief Sat Parhar has been tapped to lead the new force, which the province will call the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service. Parhar retired in 2019 after more than two decades with the Calgary Police Service in a variety of roles. Smith says the new service isn't meant to replace the RCMP entirely, though municipalities will have the option to contract the new service for its local policing needs instead of the Mounties. As the force's first chief, Parhar will lead more than 600 existing provincial sheriffs, and he says his first order of business will be to hire an executive team and develop recruitment standards. Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis says the new police force will be more capable to meet the needs of rural communities, citing slow response times and staffing issues for the RCMP in Alberta's smaller municipalities.
Calgary Herald
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Alberta appoints deputy Calgary police chief as head of independent police agency
Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis take part in a news conference on Thursday December 12, 2024. Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has announced the formal creation of the independent agency police service, along with the name of its new chief. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Calgary Herald ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Calgary Herald ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors At a press conference on Wednesday, Smith said Calgary Police Service deputy chief Sat Parhar has been appointed as the first chief of the new police agency, which will be renamed to the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service. She said the agency will operate as an independent crown corporation with its head office located in Calgary. 'The Alberta Sheriffs Police Service is not meant to replace the RCMP or any other police service,' Smith said. Your weekday lunchtime roundup of curated links, news highlights, analysis and features. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again 'It will work alongside existing branches of law enforcement to fill gaps and ensure that resources are used efficiently and just like most other police services in the province, it will be run separately from the government with civilian oversight.' The announcement follows Bill 49, the Public Safety Statutes Amendment Act 2025, which passed in the spring sitting of the legislature. Under the legislation, municipalities will be able to choose whether or not they want to select the new police agency as their local police service once it becomes operational. Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said the province is still ironing out the details when it comes to staffing the new agency, but said there's been interest from retired police officers to potentially fill the roles. 'I'm fully optimistic that within the next several months that we should be able to work this out,' Ellis said. In the spring, Ellis said the province has already identified roughly 600 people within the Alberta Sheriffs that, with the appropriate training, could become police officers. Those 600 sheriffs would then be moved to the new police agency service, separate from the Alberta Sheriffs. Smith said there are currently over 2,000 sheriffs categorized as peace officers who do prisoner transports and other specialized services. Of the 2,000 she said 650 are 'trained up' at a level where they could be categorized as police. 'We already have a couple of expressions of interest… of municipalities that want a sheriff's detachment and so we can start now. We're not waiting. We want to make sure that everybody feels that they've got the policing that they need close to home, and if sheriffs are one of the options that they want to pursue, we're happy to work with them on it,' Smith said.
