Since accepting the position of Chief of Police, I have had time to communicate the 2008 Business Plan with the Police Commission, Executive Team, and NCO ranks. I would like to share some of the details of the business plan with all of you, as we are very excited about the positive effects the plan will have on service delivery. The Executive Team has been developing the plan over the past couple of months and the Police Commission have reviewed the plan and have endorsed it.

As demands on the Police Service continue to grow, it is critical that we continually examine how we are doing business and be prepared to make adjustments to improve our service delivery as we build towards our vision of being the Police Service of Choice.

During the past several months, the Service has conducted a review of the various Sections and Units within the Service to ensure their complement of people and organizational structure is suited to effectively and efficiently meet the needs of the community. The review confirmed my belief that the Service’s personnel have an unwavering commitment to the Service and the community and are steadfast in carrying out our purpose of providing for a safe community through professional and progressive policing. The review did identify the need to bolster critical areas within the Service and to realign certain functions to meet the strategic direction we are embarking on together.

Our 2008 Business Plan includes an overall increase in staff by five people. The increase includes three police officers, one civilian, and one criminal analyst. A close examination of the Criminal Investigation Section revealed that although calls for service remain consistent with increased investigation complexity, search warrants requirements and other specialization has severely hampered the sections ability to produce files that demonstrate the investigational excellence required by our Service and the courts. We believe that organized crime requires a coordinated response and as such, we feel splitting the Criminal Investigation Section into two sections will increase our ability to effectively battle crime.

Commencing in the early part of 2008, the Criminal Investigation Section will be split and renamed the “Organized Crime” and “Major Crime” Sections. The structure more effectively aligns with our provincial partners and is expected to allow greater communication, integration, and synergy within the Sections. The two Sections will continue to report directly to the Inspector of Support Services. To maximize the effectiveness of our battle against organized crime we need to become truly intelligence led. A crime analyst will be added to the Organized Crime Section and will serve the entire Service.

The Information Processing Section was reorganized in early 2006. With any reorganization, it is important to monitor the effects of the changes and adjust as required. During the initial reorganization, our staff told us that they wanted consistent and accessible leadership. In response to that, we placed a Sergeant on each IPS team that had a dual role of conducting court detail responsibilities and supervising their respective teams. In an effort to better serve the needs of IPS and meet the Service requirements in other Sections, IPS will experience the following adjustments:

• One Sergeant will be responsible to provide consistent leadership to IPS staff with the remainder of the position’s time devoted to Court Detail responsibilities.
  
• Court Detail will be filled with one full time Constable.

• A new Quality Assurance position will be established to assist with the re-assigned Court Detail functions, along with additional QA records management responsibilities presently performed by our System Coordinators. The additional QA position will allow our System Coordinators to concentrate more on our increasingly complex information technology needs as well as augment short-term IPS workload demands.

• We are presently working with our local justice partners to establish a joint Disclosure Centre at Provincial Court, which will better serve our collective needs of disclosure and provide a stronger pre-trial consultation.

The business plan and budget were developed to ensure that these changes would not adversely impact frontline operations. The plan includes a reorganization of areas to deal with increased call volumes and critical mass to respond to emergencies. After a review of the statistics and consultation with patrol NCOs, patrol team strength was established at 14 members, which includes twelve constables, a Sergeant and a Staff Sergeant. The strength should allow for adequate training and development time.

An additional major focus in the upcoming year is to formalize a coaching and mentoring program for all our employees to assist in their development and career aspirations. The Executive Team has engaged the services of several consultants to align coaching and mentoring with the current Provincial competencies as outlined in Curtis Clark’s draft of “Training for Success”, Skills, Competency and Knowledge: Setting a Police training strategy for Alberta.

I look forward to the possibilities the future holds for us and thank you all for your continued dedication and commitment to serving and protecting our community.

G. Earl
Chief of Police