Spotlight: Lakeshore Regional Police Service takes care of area reserves
Theresa Seraphim
for Spotlight
For Cory Cardinal, joining the Lakeshore Regional Police Service (LRPS) meant coming back home.
The Kinuso native, who was the first officer hired by the force in July, 2009, says he joined because in “doing First Nations policing, I could stay here.”
Cardinal, who worked with other forces before joining LRPS, says he enjoys the interaction with people, and the variety inherent in the job.
“The level of calls and type of calls we get are pretty diverse,” he notes.
Cardinal is one of 10 officers with the LPRS, which serves the Sawridge, Swan River, Driftpile, Sucker Creek and Kapawe’no First Nations and has been in existence as a force since 2010, says Chief Dale Cox.
The thrust of the LRPS, which also has two clerical staff, is community policing, Cox notes, adding the force’s 2010-12 business plan emphasizes ways in which that can be accomplished.
“Community policing is the modern way of providing police services” because the community identifies areas to focus on. Part of Cox’s mandate is to meet annually with each First Nation to determine those issues and how to deal with them.
This is where a mixture of contemporary policing and traditional Aboriginal justice modes can work together. Indeed, says Cox, the idea behind LRPS is to “recognize cultural and traditional differences and incorporate those in the direction that we’re going.”
For example, says Cox, before Europeans came to North America, First Nations already had a system of traditional restorative justice in place, wherein the perpetrator was held accountable for his or her actions by the community for less serious crimes.
That stems from the First Nations philosophy that “it’s not just the person that’s offended (by a crime), but the community,” notes Cox, adding such justice is not police-led but community-led, and not meant to be punitive but to underscore the importance of accountability.
“We hope to keep moving forward with that,” he says, adding the hope is that such a system would be in place in LRPS First Nations by sometime next year.
More serious crimes, such as murder, would still fall under Canada’s current justice system.
While some First Nations do face specific challenges, and the LRPS is seeing many of the same issues found in society as a whole as well as those inherent in reserve life, “the communities for the most part are good, hardworking people,” Cox stresses.
“We want to make those places where people want to live, not have to.”
Cardinal says what LRPS officers deal with is no different than what non-Aboriginal forces deal with, but the LRPS officers have the advantage of having “a really good idea of how these (First Nations) communities are set up.”
Knowing one’s neighbours is good, but it can be a challenge at times to deal with those people “in a negative circumstance” because of that, says Cardinal. When it comes to challenging incidents, situations such as shootings are the incidents provoking the most adrenalin, say Cardinal and fellow officer Adam Gibb, who has been with LRPS for two months.
“Any time you hear (of) a weapon in any of the calls, it’s high risk,” Gibb says as Cardinal cites the example of the 2010 shooting of an officer at Driftpile as an example of the dangers LRPS members face on the job.
Nonetheless, Cardinal, Gibb and fellow officer Dirk Tomkins agree that helping people is the best part of the job.
Sgt. Dean Syniak says what he sees as a challenge is “to get out of that stereotype of tribal police” and let people know the LRPS crosses those boundaries.
“We’re police officers like any other police officers in the country,” Cardinal notes.
Six of the 10 LRPS officers are of Aboriginal descent, but, says Cox, “the direction I had when I started was to hire the best person (for the job).”
Syniak is pleased with the caliber of his officers, many of whom have served with other forces before coming to the LRPS.
“There’s a lot of experience here.”
Cox says he enjoys meeting the people who live in the places the LRPS polices, and notes his best times as chief “are when I can get out with people and meet them at their community events.”
Currently, his office is on the Kapawe’no First Nation, but the plan is for an LRPS building, containing his office and holding cells, to be erected on Driftpile First Nation land. Until that happens, officers are working out of the Faust RCMP detachment, because it’s more central to their service area and there is more physical space available. Arrestees are held right now in Faust, High Prairie or Slave Lake RCMP detachments.
The LRPS also enters into agreements with the RCMP for special services because that force has those resources, says Cox, adding LRPS recruits are trained at RCMP depot in Regina and must meet the standards of the federal force before being taken into the LRPS.
“We have the same police authority as any other police force in Alberta,” stresses Cox, adding the LRPS has been recognized as an effective approach to First Nations policing.
Members of the two forces help each other out when needed. A prime example of this, says Cox, was the Slave Lake fires in May, where they crossed jurisdictions to ensure safe evacuations and traffic direction.
Cox says staying up to date with equipment and training is also vital to the LRP, which is the fourth such Aboriginal police fource in Alberta (along with Blood Tribe, Tsu Tina, and the Northern Peace Tribal service).
Funding comes from both the province (48 per cent) and Ottawa (52 per cent), but because policing contracts are currently one year long, planning can be a challenge. Cox says the LRPS is currently asking for five-year contracts to enable more long-term goals to be set and met.
One other thing which would be essential, and is in the works, says Cox, is an elders’ network for each community. Youth and others who are in danger of committing crimes would be brought, through such a network, to appreciate who they, and their communities, are, he adds.
“We need (those) traditional cultural values to be brought back into the community.”
Click thumbnail to view larger image
< Previous
Home
Next >
|
