Organizational Meeting
The Commission was pleased to start the new year with their Organizational Meeting electing Chair and Vice Chair for the year as well as appointing members to standing Committees. Commissioner Wong was re-acclaimed as Chair and Commissioner Reiman was re-acclaimed as Vice-Chair. Committee members are looking forward to fulfilling the Commission’s strategic priorities for 2024.
Grande Prairie Police Service Transition Update
On January 1, 2024, Municipal Enforcement Services (MES), Mobile Outreach (MO), and RCMP municipal employees moved under the Grande Prairie Police Service (GPPS). RCMP municipal employees will remain under the command of the RCMP and report administratively to GPPS while MES and MO will be operationally and administratively under GPPS. Equipment and promotional materials are being secured. The first branded vehicles will be out in about 2 months and the first fully equipped vehicles are slated for September. Recruitment of the first Experienced Officers and Recruits has commenced.
Policy and Procedure Manual
The Policy and Governance Committee spent the last 5 months reviewing the policy and procedure manual the Commission adopted at their first meeting on May 25, 2023. Having a better understanding of their role provided the Commission insight into how they want to govern themselves as well as how they want to govern and provide oversight to the Grande Prairie Police Service. The updated Grande Prairie Police Commission Policy and Procedure Manual was adopted and can be found on their webpage www.gppolice.com/about/governance-and-oversight. Chair Wong expressed his appreciation to the Policy and Governance Committee for their prompt and diligent work on reviewing the manual.
Canadian Mental Health Association
The Executive Director of Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in Grande Prairie, Randy Arsenault, provided a presentation on their services to the Commission. The Commission expressed their appreciation for the work CHMA is doing in the community and GPPS members requested follow up meetings with them as they transition to the police of jurisdiction.