Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier responds to questions from the media. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Public safety

‘It’s not always about bullets and handguns and batons’: Prince Albert’s new police chief aims to improve relations

Oct 23, 2023 | 2:36 PM

Prince Albert’s new Chief of Police said you cannot continue to do things the way they’ve always been done and expect different results.

Patrick Nogier made the comment during a half-hour news conference Monday morning at Prince Albert City Hall.

Last Thursday, the official announcement was made by the city’s board of police commissioners that Nogier would be promoted from the role of interim chief, a position he’s held for over four months.

Reflecting back on his time so far in the city, Nogier identified a number of milestones he felt had been achieved including strengthening internal engagement within the organization and improving efficiencies by adapting modern technology such as the implementation of an alternative call response program.

“We are now better equipped to respond to emergencies promptly and we will continue to explore ideas, technologies and creativity to keep us moving in the right direction,” he said.

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Explaining that building relationships with community partners such as the Prince Albert Grand Council was a big priority for him coming in, Nogier, who has also attended a number of community events, said the general feedback he has received is that people want to make the community safer and people want to attract other people to the community. Nogier also acknowledged trust is the foundation of policing.

“And when the public believes officers are honest and ethical, they are much more likely to cooperate with law enforcement, report crimes and provide valuable information,” he explained.

Acknowledging there were a number of good initiatives in place already, Nogier said sometimes it comes down to having a fresh set of eyes and reviewing not just how the police respond to incidents but also how they engage with the community as a whole. So another question posed to Nogier was could the public trust him, and he responded that he would work hard to build the trust of the community.

“Trust is earned, it’s not something you can take for granted, and it can be fragile,” he said, adding day-to-day actions speak louder than words,” he said.

Prior to coming to Prince Albert, Nogier was with the Saskatoon Police Service for 30 years and as part of Monday’s press conference, noted that while Saskatoon is bigger and their organization has more resources at its disposal, the same kind of work is being done in Prince Albert.

“I’ve said it before that Prince Albert is a unique city to police because it has big city issues,” Nogier explained, noting he will do everything in his power to ensure officers have all their resources to respond accordingly.

When asked by paNOW about the possibility of hiring more officers, Nogier explained having more police on the ground is not necessarily the solution.

“It’s not always about bullets and handguns and batons, sometimes it’s about engagement, sometimes it’s about thinking about how you approach a situation and what your response is gonna be,” he said.

In addition to members of the media, Nogier was surrounded by representatives from the police service, City Hall, the board of police commissioners, and Metis-Nation Saskatchewan.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell