INNISFAIL – The Town of Innisfail is sending the provincial government a letter saying it does not want to enter into a new regional police committee and will continue setting policing priorities with its established Policing and Safe Community Committee.
However, the Innisfail RCMP, a primary player with Innisfail’s current policing committee, will be part of the region’s new rural policing committee that is being driven by Red Deer County.
The Innisfail RCMP has a team of dedicated provincial officers responsible for coverage over a wide area of the county, essentially from Pine Lake to the east and Spruce View and Raven out to the west.
“I'm hoping within the next month we'll have our first meeting,” said Innisfail RCMP Staff Sgt. Ian Ihme, the detachment commander. “What that is exactly going to look like, the exact roll out of that committee, is still to be decided because that's the rural community that's really going to decide that, not me. I'm there to provide information to the committee, not to tell them what to do.
“They're essentially the voice for the rural community to the police,” said Ihme, adding he hopes that once the new rural policing committee gets established there will be future collaboration with Innisfail’s policing committee. “Not right at the start, because this committee is brand new (it) needs to get its feet wet.
“They need to find out what their role is, what their mandate is, and where they fit into this whole sphere of policing and public safety and police accountability.”
As for Innisfail’s policing committee, which was first established in 2019, it will remain just the way it is following a presentation at town council on Feb. 10 by Todd Becker, the chief administrative officer for the Town of Innisfail.
Innisfail's council unanimously approved a motion on Feb. 10 to send a letter to the office of the provincial minister of public safety and emergency services notifying the municipality will be opting out of the planned regional policing committee.
In his report to council Becker noted that in 2022 the provincial government passed Bill 6, the Police Amendment Act, legislation that requires the creation of civilian governance bodies for all municipalities in Alberta.
He said every community in Alberta served by the RCMP, depending on their size and type of police service agreement, will be required to be represented by either a provincial police advisory board, regional policing committee or a municipal policing committee.
Becker told council that communities with a population of less than 15,000 that are policed under a Municipal Police Service Agreement (MPSA) are required to participate in a regional policing committee but could opt out to establish their own committee.
“Opting out of a regional committee requires ministerial approval,” said Becker in his report. “The Town of Innisfail falls within this category and administration recommends (to) council to seek the minister’s approval to maintain the current policing committee which has existed since 2019.”
Becker added MPSA communities, such as Innisfail, can not mix with communities served under the Provincial Police Servicing Agreement (PPSA), such as Red Deer County and Penhold.
“This limits the Town of Innisfail (MPSA) to develop a committee with Penhold (PPSA) and Red Deer County (PPSA) for example as they both will participate in the Provincial Police Advisory Board,” said Becker in his report.
Ihme told the 51黑料 that from his perspective the Town of Innisfail has worked with its policing committee to the point where it’s functioning “really well” and does not want to do anything that could possibly make it less effective.
“It's not that (Innisfail is) opposed to the idea of a regional committee, or even collaboration between that committee and a rural committee,” said Ihme. “They're apprehensive about doing anything that could negatively affect their committee, which I completely understand.”
