POLICE CHIEF OUT
Knecht’s contract won’t be renewed
Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht will leave his position at the end of October, ending almost eight years as the city’s top cop, Postmedia has learned.
Knecht thanked his officers for their “tireless efforts and unwavering commitment toward our common goal of making Edmonton a safe and secure place to live, work and raise a family” in an internal message Wednesday obtained by Postmedia.
“I truly believe we have succeeded in making the Edmonton Police Service the best police service in North America,” the message said.
The Edmonton Police Commission will begin the process to find his successor “in the immediate future,” Knecht said in the message. A formal announcement about his departure was expected Thursday.
Knecht became Edmonton’s 22nd police chief on June 7, 2011, replacing Mike Boyd. In 2013, the police commission extended his five-year contract until the end of October 2018.
Last month, he told reporters he was in discussions with the police commission for a contract extension and wanted to stay on.
“What’s being discussed is maybe some tweaking of the contract and an extension," he said.
He was absent from the most recent police commission meeting May 17, and a police commission spokeswoman said there was no update on his contract talks.
Knecht began his policing career with the RCMP in 1977 at age 19, and served for a time as an undercover drug enforcement officer. He was later named senior deputy commissioner of the RCMP in Ottawa — making him the most senior uniformed police officer on the national force. Before that, he was commanding officer of K Division, in charge of operations at 108 Alberta detachments.
Knecht’s leadership style has at times been criticized, with a survey of rank-and-file members of the Edmonton Police Association in 2016 finding 80 per cent of EPS staff said they worked in a “culture of fear.”
Former police association president Maurice Brodeur was highly critical of Knecht and in 2016 called for an independent investigation into the service’s leadership.
Brodeur, who was removed as president in the aftermath of his statements about Knecht, said members weren’t happy with how Knecht was handling employee health and wellness and officer discipline.