'Canada is watching': New northern Alberta police service trying to lead by example
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Grande Prairie in northern Alberta is making the switch from RCMP to a new municipal police service. This is how it's going.
On the second floor of a building where most offices are without doors, the ceilings hang low and the carpets don't match, the chief of Grande Prairie’s new police force gets down to work.
"Don't focus on the building," Dwayne Lakusta said in a recent interview.
The 51-year-old was picked over a year ago to head up a new municipal police service in this city of 60,000 in Alberta’s northwest, replacing the RCMP. It's to be the first new force in Alberta in more than 60 years.
With three decades of experience, Lakusta has overseen the deployment of a small group of officers working with local RCMP.
The Mounties remain in charge until the local force is fully in place by 2028.
Lakusta said it will take a new approach based on surveys and research done in other jurisdictions calling for police to be more responsive, particularly to youth.
The result, he said, is a "non-traditional" policing model that will deploy mobile outreach workers alongside enforcement officers.
