POLICE Camrose force goes beyond enforcement
Small-town department builds bridges, supports at-risk youth in the community
“Oh hey there,” Const. Brad Niven says, seemingly to no one in particular, as a line of vehicles passes his marked police cruiser. “Where are you off to?” He takes another look, craning his neck to watch one of the cars make a right-hand turn down a quiet, tree-lined residential street in the city of Camrose.
Who was that?
“Oh, she’s one of our known drug dealers.”
That’s the benefit of policing a small city, Niven said, his police radio crackling in the background. “You get to know everybody.”
As he turns onto another identically idyllic residential street, several motorists give the onehanded Alberta farmer wave, a flick of the hand from the steering wheel.
“That’s one thing I still haven’t gotten used to,” the former 10-year veteran of the Calgary Police Service says.
“People here — well most people — actually like seeing you.”
POLICING FROM WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
Formed in the 1960s, the Camrose Police Service is one of 10 independent police services in the province.
With 31 members, it is similar in size to forces that serve Taber, Lacombe and the Blood Tribe. (Camrose also has an RCMP detachment with four members.)
And just like in those communities, Camrose police members are more than upholders of the peace and enforcers of the law.
They are part of the community ’s tapestry.
Several officers coach hockey and ball teams. Another coaches the local football team. Some volunteer their spare time on boards for non-profits.
“They spend a lot of their personal time volunteering that probably goes unnoticed by a lot of people,” Camrose Mayor Norman Mayer said.
From those relationships comes a deeper connection with the community that is not really seen in larger centres like Edmonton and Calgary.
And with those links comes an understanding of what the residents need.
FROM TRAGEDY COMES CONNECTIONS
In early July a 71-year-old man in a mobility scooter was struck and killed by a Canadian Pacific train while crossing railway lines in the city.
Soon after, police began noticing comments on social media from people who either witnessed the crash or felt like there was a lack of information being supplied to the community.
“A lot of people were exposed to things that probably nobody should see,” police Chief Mark Neufeld said.
Neufeld took over the top job almost one year ago and in doing so became the first outside chief to take the reins of the force.
Using social media, police organized a public community debriefing at a local school gym and invited a doctor, grief counsellors and psychologists to speak with those attending.
“We only had about a dozen people come out, but they were the right dozen people,” says community relations and crime prevention officer Const. Kelly Bauer.
“They needed to talk to somebody.”
Neufeld adds: “I think it made a big difference for folks.”
The police didn’t need to hold the event but it’s evidence of that community-centric attitude so important to Neufeld.
“It’s the difference between transaction and transformation,” he said.
“We can go there and punch the clock and put in a report or we can make the extra effort.”
And the community really responds to that extra effort.
“We do get the challenges from time to time as to why we would have our own police force when there are other avenues available, but a police service for the community is more of a committed service to the city of Camrose than if you had another police force doing the work, in my opinion,” Mayer said.
NOT WITHOUT ITS ISSUES
While the population that resides within the city numbers around 20,000, Camrose is a regional hub that services another 150,000 drawn from the large swath of rural central Alberta between Edmonton and Red Deer.
And that is where many of the problems in Camrose stem from.
“We have a population of 20,000 people who sleep here at night and probably 19,970 of them we don’t need to be too concerned about,” Neufeld said with a cheeky smile.
“There are a small number of people that are responsible for a disproportionate amount of the problems we have and drugs drive a lot of it.”
Having almost entirely avoided the opioid crisis that has gripped the province, the city isn’t without its drug issues — “our biggest concern continues to be methamphetamine,” Neufeld said.
Year to date there have been 22 meth possession charges, eight of which came in June. For perspective, there were 22 cocaine charges in all of 2017.
“We have a problem and we have a symptom of the problem. Our problem is the drugs and a symptom of it is the property crime,” Neufeld said.
In June alone, break and enters, mischief, theft of and from motor vehicles were all higher then the same month last year.
With high-risk events like homicides rare and rates of violent crimes in the city similarly low, police have time to focus on building relationships and focusing on crime prevention and being part of a Camrose-wide effort to address chronic social issues like addictions and mental health.
Camrose youth are also a special focus of the police but not in the “lock them up” kind of way.
The public image of police and their interactions with officers is as important as restorative justice.
Jessica Hutton, executive director of Camrose Open Door, points to the Camrose police and RCMP’s involvement in its integrated youth hub project.
In a province-first partnership with the primary care network that services central Alberta, the hub is a “one-stop shop for youth.”
“They come in one door and get everything they need,” she said.
Essentially anybody who has anything to do with youths ages 11-24 sits at a table and determines how to move forward and best support the youth by closing gaps that previously existed.
That includes two different school districts, two different health organizations, multiple community and government agencies and the city ’s two law enforcement organizations.
To make this work successfully requires increased information sharing, something Neufeld and Hutton have worked on over the past 12 months.
“It’s about holistic wraparound care that stops them from falling through the cracks,” Hutton said.
“Our interaction with the Camrose police has changed quite a bit. We find that we are able to talk freer about trends they see and we see and marry those two together.
“Sometimes they know something we don’t, sometimes we know something they don’t and sometimes we can get that married together in the best interest of the kids. That’s been a huge shift in culture.”