Top Saskatoon police roles changing hands after spate of retirements
Deputy chiefs and veteran investigators have retired or moved on, and generational change continues.
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The Saskatoon city police force has several new faces in senior roles after the retirement of two deputy chiefs. Chief Troy Cooper says he’s excited about the future.
Deputy Chief Randy Huisman and Deputy Chief Mitch Yuzdepski have left the force in recent months; Yuzedpski has taken on the role of executive director of the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police.
At the same time, a few veteran investigators have retired, with announcements made at police board meetings.
Deputy Chief Cam McBride has been named to one of the permanent deputy chief positions, after serving in that role on an acting basis. He was previously a superintendent. The second deputy chief position is to be filled before the fall.
Two new superintendents have been named: Supt. Blair Pellerin and Supt. Darren Pringle, to serve alongside two current superintendents, Supt. Dave Haye and Supt. Patrick Nogier, who has been seconded to be the interim chief of police in Prince Albert.
Cooper said there are opportunities now that didn’t exist previously for members who would have otherwise stayed at their current organizations. One example is potentially working as an investigator for the provincial Serious Incident Response Team. Some senior Saskatoon city police officers have moved there.
“We’re just excited, I think, to have the new leadership, people who are ready to embrace calls for police reform, ready to embrace new ideas and new ways of seeing their role,” Cooper said.
Cooper said generational change on the force has been happening for a few years, with baby boomers moving out of policing and generation X moving in and out of the career. The benefit of having a new generation move into leadership roles is that they bring new perspectives and aren’t reliant on the traditional role, he said.
“We’ve heard quite loudly over the last five years that our communities want us to re-examine the role of police and to make sure that the resources we have and the energy we have is in the right place, that we’re not just continuing to think of traditional policing as something that can’t change.”
When it comes to recruiting, Cooper said Saskatoon’s status as a larger urban centre is attractive, and they’re also using “alternate” methods to attract applicants. For example, some who have been hired to work in the Alternative Support Unit have moved on to become sworn officers. They can becoming qualified applicants through working in the ASU program, he said.
Recruiting has been a challenge for policing generally, Cooper noted. In recent years, law enforcement across North America has faced calls for reforms, defunding and confronting systemic racism, particularly since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.
Cooper said there’s a lot of interest within the police force in not accepting the status quo; officers are not as interested in sticking with traditional policing as they may have been 10 or 15 years ago.
“For us, policing has been very resistant to change, and I think it’s taken the new leadership style of people we’re seeing move into those positions now to feel comfortable in chaos and change and to make a better police service as a result.”
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