SASKATOONEXPRESS - April 2-8, 2018 - Page 1
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a little more influence over the direction of policing in Saskatchewan and Western Canada. Saskatoon is a big player as far as setting the standard for policing. It has a lot of influence. That’s why I came here.” Cooper sees changing the policing model as a priority; standalone police services are probably not sustainable in the long run, he said. Services must consider partnering, sharing data, attacking root causes and even examining the boundaries of policing, evaluating whether they are still relevant. “There’s different models out there in the world and I think we’ll find whatever the right fit is for Saskatoon, but it won’t be what it is now, 10 years from now.” Change is already occurring. Integrated units with the RCMP don’t have the same boundaries as the local police services; they have regions, as do health and school divisions. Combined regional traffic safety approaches are also being used today. “Another model is sharing data with our service delivery partners; we call it the hub here in Saskatoon. It is a community safety model, where the police contribute information and other social service providers contribute information. We have a collaboration around reducing risks . . . It’s a preventative model, and that may be part of the future as well.”
Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper became an officer at age 21 and hasn’t looked back. (Photo by Joanne Paulson)
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envisions the force of the future His vision has come through experience. Cooper grew up in Big River, where he became an officer at just 21, and early on joined an integrated unit with the RCMP working on drug enforcement and major crime support. “I got the exposure, I guess, to that broader policing picture then,” he said. “I did four years in that unit. It was interesting, it was exciting as a young man because I worked undercover and I got to work in other centres with a different police service for a while.” From there, he went into management positions, worked in major crime and intel-
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Troy Cooper Joanne Paulson Saskatoon Express decade from now, predicts Saskatoon’s new chief of police, policing will look very different. Troy Cooper took the reins from Clive Weighill a month ago. You might expect Saskatoon’s top officer to talk about catching the bad guys, and he certainly does; but the first things he wants to discuss are community wellness, service integration, and how law enforcement will undergo drastic changes in the next 10 years. All of that leads to better crime prevention.
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ligence, and supervised detective divisions. He moved up to inspector, deputy chief, and then chief of the Prince Albert police. “My focus started to shift more to policy development, strategic planning and budgeting,” said Cooper. “I was the deputy chief under Dale McFee for seven years; he’s our deputy minister of corrections now. While I was working under Dale, we started to look at changing policing models. I had some experience and interest in that. Then I was the chief for six years there before coming here. “For me, one of the biggest reasons I moved to the Saskatoon service was to have
Big challenges The policing context for Cooper is collaboration and prevention, and that goes for all the major challenges facing the Saskatoon Police Service. The biggest concern, operationally, is drugs, he said. One of the earliest shocks since he took over was a number of local deaths caused by fentanyl mixed with cocaine. Fentanyl comes in from both coasts and across the border. “It’s inexpensive, and it’s addictive, and sometimes it gets mixed in with other drugs,” said Cooper. “Sometimes people are aware it’s there and sometimes they’re not. “We don’t know for sure in Saskatoon whether those people were intentionally using fentanyl, or accidentally. But whatever the case is, when there’s fentanyl around or other addictive opioids, people die.” British Columbia is in a fentanyl crisis, and last year in Alberta, 462 people died from fentanyl overdoses just between January and April. (Continued on page 11 )
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