Alberta names provincial police force, appoints former Calgary officer as first chief

Jack Farrell · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jul 02, 2025 5:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Alberta's authorities has named its ain provincial constabulary unit and announced its archetypal chief.

Former lawman Calgary constabulary main Sat Parhar has been tapped to pb the caller force, which the state says it intends to telephone the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service.

• Alberta plans to make autarkic constabulary bureau arsenic alternate enactment to RCMP

Premier Danielle Smith said Wednesday that the caller service, which volition beryllium based successful Calgary, isn't meant to regenerate the RCMP entirely, though municipalities volition person the enactment to declaration the caller work for their policing needs alternatively of the Mounties.

The bureau volition besides enactment RCMP detachments and prime up the slack wherever they're falling, she said.

"We privation to marque definite that everybody feels that they've got the policing that they request adjacent to home," she told a Calgary quality conference, adding the state has already had "a couple" of inquiries from municipalities.

Smith besides said that by creating the force, Alberta is preparing for a world wherever Ottawa ends declaration assemblage policing successful 2032, erstwhile the RCMP's existing contracts crossed Canada are acceptable to expire.

"Alberta's authorities is preparing and acting alternatively of waiting and reacting," she said. "Our extremity is to enactment solutions successful spot earlier superior challenges develop."

Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis, speaking alongside Smith, said Alberta's caller unit would beryllium a viable enactment to regenerate the RCMP travel 2032.

Ellis besides said the caller bureau volition study to a civilian oversight committee and not the provincial government, contempt being a Crown corporation.

As of April, Alberta had a small much than 1,200 sheriffs taking attraction of — among different things — inmate transportation, enforcing postulation laws and investigating occupation properties utilized for cause trafficking and gang-related crimes.

Earlier this year, the state besides committed $29 cardinal to person sheriffs bolster Alberta's borderline security.

Roughly fractional of the existing sheriffs execute duties akin to those of constabulary officers, though Ellis's bureau could not accidental however galore would beryllium transferred to the caller bureau nether Parhar.

"The caller bureau was ever intended to presume police-like duties presently performed by the Alberta Sheriffs," said property caput Arthur Green.

"Planning enactment is ongoing and we volition supply further accusation erstwhile decisions person been made."

Smith said Parhar, who retired from the Calgary constabulary work successful 2019, has the due enactment skills and acquisition to motorboat the caller work from the crushed up.

While with the Calgary Police Service, Parhar was taxable to an probe by Alberta's constabulary watchdog for allegedly obstructing justice, though helium was aboriginal cleared of immoderate wrongdoing.

Parhar, speaking alongside Smith and Ellis, said his archetypal bid of concern arsenic main is to prosecute an enforcement squad and make standards for recruitment, grooming and operations.

"We are gathering a constabulary work that reflects Alberta, its people, its communities and its future," helium said.

Opposition NDP nationalist information professional David Shepherd questioned wherefore Smith's authorities was moving guardant with a provincial constabulary unit contempt promising a imaginable referendum connected the taxable arsenic aboriginal arsenic adjacent year.

"On the 1 hand, they're saying we'll person a referendum. On the different hand, they're moving guardant and not doing immoderate consultation," Shepherd said.

"They're making it up arsenic they spell along."

Shepherd said creating a provincial constabulary unit was "a zombie idea" that Albertans person repeatedly spoken against, and criticized the authorities for "refusing to fto it go."

Ellis said earlier this twelvemonth that Alberta has enactment speech $6 cardinal this twelvemonth to prosecute the caller service's chief, elder unit and screen archetypal setup costs.