In the City of Grande Prairie 2021 Budget, Council allocated funding for the completion of a Police Services Model Review (PSMR). The review commenced in December 2021 and concluded in September 2022. The report was received in October 2022 and made available to the public. Council spent many hours reading, reviewing and publicly discussing the document, as well they increased their learning and asked numerous questions. View the report here.
The PSMR concluded the City of Grande Prairie could benefit from an alternative service provider by way of a municipal police service. Further analysis was recommended. Based on the findings and recommendations of the PSMR, Council approved the development of a detailed Transition and Community Engagement Plan to further assess the opportunity to establish a modern municipal police service. MNP LLP was retained by the City to undertake an in-depth stakeholder engagement process, assess the viability of a municipal police service, and provide a detailed transition plan. MNP LLP developed the Policing Transition Report (PTR).
The MNP-led PTR was reviewed by Council on February 21, 2023. View the report here.
In both the Police Service Model Review and the Transition Plan, municipalities across Alberta and Canada were consulted. In Alberta, every Municipality that operates under a municipal police model was reviewed including Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Camrose, Edmonton, Lacombe, Taber and Calgary. These conversations and the numerous consultations done across Canada were extremely valuable.
On March 7, 2023, City Council passed a resolution to transition to municipal policing and the Police Transition Team was established to being working on the transition plan. On March 20, 2023, City Council passed a bylaw to create the Grande Prairie Police Commission. Throughout 2023, several milestone were met in the development of the Grande Prairie Police Service. If you have questions regarding the transition, please check out our FAQ.
In their 2024 - 2026 Strategic Plan, the Commission committed to monitoring and supporting the transition by providing quarterly reports to City Council. Quarterly reports for the transition can be found below.