Budget funding for Alberta Sheriffs to be used for plainclothes units, civil enforcement teams
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Some of the $27.3 million set aside for the Alberta Sheriffs in February’s provincial budget will fund two new plainclothes teams as well as 20 investigators for the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis made the announcement in St. Paul, a two-hour drive northeast of Edmonton, on Friday afternoon.
He told reporters the new plainclothes teams will work alongside Mounties in rural areas, with a budget of $4.3 million.
“These new Sheriff teams will fill a gap by helping the RCMP detachments with local investigations that the current model does not account for,” he said.
The news teams will focus more on day-to-day operations, Ellis added, with the sheriffs’ existing surveillance teams focusing on more major crimes as part of their role with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).
The province is also adding 20 investigators to its SCAN unit, which uses civil enforcement to target properties police deem to be problematic.
“These new plans will ensure that when an Albertan turns to an officer in an emergency, they will get help regardless of the uniform that the officer is wearing.”
Ellis said most of the $27.3 million in budget funding was devoted to hiring 245 more sheriffs.
The Alberta Sheriffs Branch ensures the safety of those at the Alberta legislature and in courthouses. Its officers also work in communications, surveillance, as well as enforcing traffic and fish and wildlife laws.
Ellis reiterated that the government has not made a decision on the potential revival of an Alberta provincial police service, but said it was “still an active file.”
The provincial budget also provided $3 million in grant funding for municipalities and Indigenous communities seeking to similarly explore alternative policing models, with supporting those seeking to do so as one of the public safety ministry’s key objectives.
Ellis said Friday that “at least a dozen” communities had applied for that grant.
Earlier this month, city councillors in Grande Prairie voted to drop the RCMP in favour of establishing the city’s own police service.
The move came after a $10 million pledge from the government to back the transition.
The union representing RCMP officers has pushed back against the province’s increasing use of sheriffs, saying they weren’t trained or equipped to respond to the type of violent crime the government was aiming to crack down on.
The government’s figures for crime rates per 100,000 residents show a 17 per cent decline in property crime between 2017 and 2021, but also a 14 per cent increase in overall violent crime and a 24 per cent increase in violent crime in rural areas over the same time period.
Twitter @ByMatthewBlack
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