Indigenous partnership called key priority for police chief
Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas says the best choice for a new Saskatoon police chief would not only have a positive relationship with the Indigenous community, but a positive partnership.
Outgoing police Chief Clive Weighill had that partnership mentality in community policing and ensuring that First Nations also had a role in making the streets safer, Thomas said.
“One of the dialogues we need to have has to be (that) if the present system isn’t working and needs to be fixed, how can we be flexible and amend it,” he said.
Weighill’s replacement is expected to take the helm in early 2018. The search for a new police chief officially got underway on Wednesday, months after Weighill announced his October retirement. His last official day is set for Oct. 6.
The task of hiring a new chief falls to the city’s board of police commissioners.
Mayor Charlie Clark said the police service needs a leader who will build on the city’s current position of strength and also lead at a time of change — in technology and types of crime, for example.
“We have some significant challenges in the community with drugs and drug addiction, particularly crystal meth. That’s having an effect on a lot of individuals and that’s driving a lot of crime that’s very unsettling for the community,” he said.
“We need to build a strong relationship with the Indigenous community and make sure the police force is representative of the community. I think we need to really build on an integrated policing model that breaks down the silos between the emergency response systems and the health systems in place to ... make sure that people don’t get caught in the cycle in the first place.”
Board of police commissioners chair Darlene Brander announced Wednesday that Deputy Chief Mark Chatterbok, a 36-year veteran with the service, will serve as acting chief until a new successor is in place.
“We want somebody who is very effective at building and encouraging the relationships between the chief’s office and the community, between the entire police service and the community,” Brander said.
The commission wants public input on the attributes people want in a new chief and will post a fourquestion survey on its website, which people can take anonymously.
The application period closes Oct. 6. Brander said she expects the job will attract interest from candidates across the country and internally.
When Weighill was hired in 2006, the city was looking for change in its police service, she noted.
Weighill had been a deputy chief with the Regina Police Service since 1997 when he made the move to Saskatoon to replace former chief Russell Sabo.