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Taber getting one more police officer |
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
By Jennifer Elves
Taber Times
The provincial government's commitment of $468 million to support key recommendations previously made by the Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force will mean an additional officer for the Taber Police Service (TPS).
Naturally, the TPS welcomes the announcement but is facing a time crunch to hire its new officer, as the first day of classes at the Centre for Advancement in Criminal Justice at Lethbridge College is May 5, with the registration deadline this Friday.
"We have until May 2 to get someone in, so we're diligently working as an organization to hire a police officer to get into the May 5 date," said Insp. Graham Abela of the TPS. "Given the perimetres of the (provincial policing) standards and because of those issues, we are limited in scope as to how large of a competition we (can) have."
Since the service will not have an adequate amount of time to post the position and go through the extensive interviewing process required of all police agencies, the TPS is looking internally first. If the police service is not able to hire internally, Abela noted, the service would delay the process and would explore training options other than the Advancement in Criminal Justice program.
"Our hope is to have someone in the class for May 5, and things are looking good in that regard," said Abela.
In order to receive the funding for the additional officer, the TPS, in consultation with the Taber Police Commission and the Town of Taber town council, had to apply for grant funding.
To be eligible for the funding, police services had to be fully staffed, prepare a business case demonstrating where and how new officers would be used and show they would have capacity to hire and train the new constables. The TPS is currently fully staffed, as it has 13 officers, and was therefore, not looking to fill any vacancies with the additional position.
The service had to send in a request to the Solicitor General's office by April 21 and in its application, requested funding for two additional positions. The service requested the extra police officers to assist in the dealings it has regarding youth and drugs, violence among youth and to help with some of the issues pertaining to the community's diverse culture.
Abela noted while the new officer will not be designated just for assisting in those regards, he or she will increase the TPS's capacity to deal with those issues.
Taber's new officer will be one out of 100 new constables that will be hired in Alberta in 2008-2009 as part of the province's commitment to hire 300 new officers over the next 30 years. In addition to those officers, more than 30 probation officers will also be hired.
"We have made a commitment to Albertans that their neighbourhoods and their communities will be safe," said Fred Lindsay, Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security, in a press release. "Adding these new front-line officers sends a clear message that we will continue to crack down on serious and violent crime in Alberta."
Along with Taber's new officer, the funding will see 41 new officers in Calgary, 35 in Edmonton, three in Medicine Hat and 20 new municipal contract positions with the RCMP. Of the 20 RCMP positions, three will be in Red Deer, and Peace River, Spruce Grove, Leduc, Strathmore, Brooks, Bonnyville, Cold Lake, St. Paul and Wetaskiwin will be getting one officer each. Plans are currently being established for the placement of the remaining eight and when asked whether any of them could be placed with the Taber/Vauxhall detachment, Andy Weiler, with the Solicitor General and Public Security Communications, declined to comment.
Police services including Lethbridge Regional Police Service, Camrose Police Service and Lacombe Police Service did not meet the needed requirements to receive additional officers. Those agencies, have however, indicated they will be in a position to add more officers in the other years included as part of the initiative. |
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