The Enhanced Policing Program in the County of Grande Prairie may be changing its scope of service very soon.
Reeve Leanne Beaupre says county administration reviewed the Grande Prairie RCMPs request to change the hours of operation and services with enhanced policing members within the county. She says once the agreement is signed, the one-year pilot program will change the hours of operation in hopes of creating better coverage across the rural region.
“We really see this as a good news story, and a win-win for both the RCMP in their level of service they can provide, plus it identifies the services that are needed in our community and that our ratepayers are currently using,” she adds.
Beaupre says there are four Enhanced Policing Unit Members, one Crime Reduction Unit member, and one General investigative Section Member. She says the new agreement will help specify the scope of service in the county to better fit the needs of residents.
“The enhanced members were there to fill some of the gaps that we had identified, so the County of Grande Prairie paid for those members 100 per cent,” she says.
“We want to continue to make sure those gaps that were identified continue to have that service.”
Beaupre says the new agreement would include changing one of the Enhanced Policing Unit members to a Special Investigative Unit with the three remaining Enhanced Policing Unit members based out of the Grande Prairie Rural Detachment.
“We felt it was very important to our residents that they felt safe and that the services they require were being provided for them,” she says. “Just to make sure those gaps don’t become evident again.”
Beaupre adds the Enhanced Policing agreement with the province will go until 2025.