Veteran Edmonton police officer named new head of ALERT
A veteran member of the Edmonton Police Service has been named chief executive of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team.
Acting Supt. Dwayne Lakusta, a 24-year member of the Edmonton Police Service, was named as the new CEO in a news release from ALERT on Wednesday.
Lakusta will oversee approximately 300 police officers and civilian staff that make up the integrated unit that addresses organized and serious crime across the province.
Lakusta began his career with Edmonton city police, working as a beat cop in Norwood.
“It all started there,” he said. “When I look at my career and where I’m at now — specifically with the neighbourhood I was assigned back in my beat days — we were dealing with the low-level street dealers, we were dealing with the sex trade workers. That was really the foundation of where I’m at now.”
Lakusta later ran the Edmonton Drug and Gang Enforcement (EDGE) unit and also worked as an undercover operator on drug investigations across the province.
He also worked in a variety of specialized units within EPS, including homicide, professional standards, Project Kare and most recently as officer in charge of west division.
Lakusta replaces Supt. Chad Coles, who had been with ALERT since October 2014. He is ALERT’S fourth CEO since it was created in 2006.
ALERT’S board of directors — made up of the province’s police chiefs — sets the agency’s priorities, Lakusta said.
His priorities include dismantling organized crime and internet child exploitation.
Since its inception in 2006, ALERT teams have made nearly 11,000 arrests, seized $610 million worth of drugs and seized 1,200 firearms, a news release said.