Richard Froese
South Peace News
Big Lakes County council wants a sergeant posted at the Faust RCMP to make the detachment independent from High Prairie RCMP.
At its regular meeting Feb. 8, council approved a motion to keep the request a priority in a briefing document to lobby the RCMP.
Council passed the motion despite a recommendation from administration to remove the issue from the briefing document.
Representing the hamlet of Faust, Reeve Robert Nygaard continues to push for a sergeant in Faust.
“As always, I will continue to advocate for Faust and Big Lakes County by making sure this topic stays a priority,” Nygaard says.
“Having a sergeant in Faust would allow Faust to be a stand-alone detachment.”
He adds operating on its own than under High Prairie RCMP, the Faust detachment would have the benefit of more autonomy in responding to calls and handling files.
“The Faust RCMP detachment is vital to the Big Lakes County community in ensuring the safety of our residents,” Nygaard says.
“Council’s goal is to have the Faust and High Prairie detachments work as two independent detachments that can work together when need be,” the document states.
Council council recommends the RCMP hire a sergeant for the Faust detachment in order to run a more efficient and effective independent detachment and address the officer shortage within the High Prairie detachment.
Faust and High Prairie RCMP detachments were administratively amalgamated about 10 years ago, the document states.
Council says a sergeant in Faust would give the detachment a greater regional role.
“A sergeant in Faust RCMP would be ideal to offer assistance to the entire region, including High Prairie, Slave Lake, and Swan Hills,” the document says.
The Faust detachment joined forces with High Prairie in 2005.
“Due to the remote location, both Faust and High Prairie detachments have retention issues,” the document states.
“The retention issue has led to a shortage of general-duty officers in High Prairie.
“Due to these shortages, resources are being pulled away from the Faust-Kinuso area.”
County staff leadership opposes the position to add a sergeant to Faust, says Brett Hawken, director of community and protective services.
“Administration is recommending council remove the sergeant in Faust as a lobbying priority due to the yearly analysis already occurring within the RCMP to see if Faust will need a sergeant in the future,” Hawken says.
Administration discussed the issue with RCMP Insp. Ed Moreland, client services officer, he adds.
“RCMP’s analysis says if they need a sergeant, they will shift internally to make it happen,” Hawken says.
“Otherwise that detachment will not receive a sergeant as they base that decision on their statistics.”