Photo by Curtis Galbraith

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

New police service part of Day 1 of budget talks at City Hall

Nov 16, 2023 | 6:00 AM

The new Grande Prairie Police Service was part of discussions on Day 1 of city budget talks Wednesday.

Grande Prairie Police Commission Chair Dan Wong says the new service is on time and on budget for 2023 and he expects the same in 2024.

Wong says about $5.5. million of next year’s budget will be covered by a provincial grant, the rest – $1,736,723, from city taxes.

“Any expenses that are associated with the transition, so duplication of officers. Of course, the senior level is duplicated in the budget because the RCMP are still the police of jurisdiction and still have to have all of their forces in place.”

“As they start to staff down, and we start to staff up, there will be a period of some duplication of people.”

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

City officials that starting the transition away from the RCMP means a projected savings of $400,000 in 2024.

Wong explains this is related to collective bargaining and increased district administrative costs for the RCMP.

“Those costs go to the municipality in their contract and what happened is had we not been going through a transition; we would have had to pay (for a) $1.9 million increase in those services.”

Wong says instead, there will be eight fewer RCMP members that will be replaced by municipal police service officers at a cost of $1.5 million.

The first Grande Prairie Police Service officers are expected to be on duty by the middle of next year.

Police Chief Dwayne Lakusta says something he says is in the final stages.

“We’re anticipating that we’ll have our first recruit class in Q2 (April-June) of ’24. We’ll also have an experienced officer class in Q2 of 2024, so we’re looking at eight officers per class.”

“Any experienced officer coming in will have a reduced training regime so it’s likely going to be five to seven weeks. As far as the new recruits, people that don’t have that experience, they’ll go through a 24-week program.”

Lakusta says they will look for local people who want to be in law enforcement.

He adds they will also be looking at uniforms and equipment when the brand is finished. Lakusta says the uniform is a “work in progress.” He is hoping the new crest will be unveiled in the next few weeks.