The Grande Prairie Police Service has deployed its new Community Standards Unit to address “social and civil disorder” in the city, particularly in the downtown core.
The new unit, which operates out of the GPPS’ old home- City on 99, is only in its first week, so GPPS Chief Dwayne Lakusta says now is the time to prove its value.
“This gives us the opportunity, while the RCMP are still in command, to basically prove the concept here, we want to see the value, we want to receive feedback from the community,” he says.
Training and presence
Lakusta explains the unit tackles two key goals for the GPPS- training and maintaining a “social presence” in Grande Prairie’s downtown. He says that now, newly graduated GPPS officers can complete their “Block II” or on-the-job training while serving the community in a meaningful way.
“They essentially work with an experienced officer, almost like a mentorship, just to keep a close watch over them, so without having enough training officers through the Grande Prairie Police Service, we’re able to pivot or adapt and push them into the Community Standards Unit.”
Deters crime
The Chief has maintained a desire to implement “social policing” in Grande Prairie since he was sworn in. He says simply having officers present in the downtown core is sometimes enough to deter crime, and allows new officers to familiarize themselves with “problem areas” in the city.
“Social presence actually deters criminal activity so what we want to do is have their presence, seven officers- six constables and one supervisor, just highly concentrated in the area, getting to know the problem areas, getting to know what is causing the social and civil disorder, and just being there to enforce the rules.”
