GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alberta. — On the second floor of a building where most offices have no doors, the ceilings are low and the carpets don’t match, the head of Grande Prairie’s new police force gets to work.

“Don’t focus on the building,” Dwayne Lakusta said in a recent interview.

The 51-year-old was chosen more than a year ago to lead a new municipal police force in this northwestern Alberta city of 60,000, replacing the RCMP. This will be the first new force in Alberta in over 60 years.

With three decades of experience, Lakusta oversaw the deployment of a small group of officers working with local RCMP.

The RCMP remains in charge until the local force is fully in place by 2028.

Lakusta said he would take a new approach based on surveys and research done in other jurisdictions, calling for police to be more responsive, particularly to young people.

The result, he said, is a “non-traditional” policing model that will deploy mobile community officers alongside law enforcement officers.

“This is a holistic approach toward the safety and well-being of the community,” Lakusta said.

“If it’s a call for suicide, we will send a mental health officer instead of an armed officer.”

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton said the stakes are high.

“This is an opportunity for us to do something unique,” ​​Clayton said during an interview at City Hall.

“I know a lot of Canada is watching how this will play out…(The service) will build some sort of model for other municipalities looking to make the transition.”

Advice. Dylan Bressey said the idea originated in 2018.

“There were discussions in Alberta about a provincial police force,” he said.

Bressey said that while debating the idea, council learned that RCMP contracts across the country would expire in March 2032.

Clayton said council’s decision in 2023 to cancel the agreement with the RCMP was difficult but necessary.

“There is an emotional attachment to the RCMP. It’s a symbolic piece of Canada, of its history and so change is difficult,” Clayton said. But she said the city was ready to offer a service more tailored to local needs.

Chris Thiessen was the only councilor to refuse the vote.

“My first no vote was really just to delay the vote and give our audience an opportunity to participate more in the debate,” Thiessen said in an interview.

And there’s the money.

“For us, being able to do a cost analysis in five years, for example, is tricky. We are just ballpark figures.

“We need to do a good job of showing that the services provide a greater net benefit to the community, and that it’s worth the cost.”

A recent cost analysis carried out by the city indicates that savings will be made, in particular through the reduction of administrative costs.

Red Deer, Airdrie and Spruce Grove in Alberta, as well as at least one municipality in Nova Scotia, are closely monitoring the situation as they consider making the transition.

Surrey, British Columbia, is moving away from the RCMP, but the transition has been met with resistance as its council tried to reverse an earlier decision to create a new service.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke has expressed concerns about the cost of the transition to taxpayers. In July, a judicial review ruled that British Columbia had the authority to complete the transition from the RCMP to the local force.

Lakusta says launching service from the base in Grande Prairie has been beneficial so far because it comes with “no baggage.”

“(The) only thing we can do,” he said, “is build trust.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 4, 2024.

— With the files of Dirk Meissner in Victoria

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press