By Teena Monteleone

Provincial Protection and Response Team adds 4 positions to Prince Albert

Aug 23, 2017 | 5:00 PM

The new Protection and Response team, or PRT, to reduce crime in rural Saskatchewan will mean the addition of four new positions within the Prince Albert police service.

Launched after a review of rural crime by a Caucus Committee on Crime Reduction, the PRT will give more authority to conservation and highway traffic officers. Of the 258 member team, almost half of them will be RCMP and municipal officers.  

“It’s a broad strategy. The new resources we’ve been given are all regional in nature and you’ll see that is the thrust of this strategy. It is recognition that crime isn’t local or assigned to just one jurisdiction,” Prince Albert Police Chief Troy Cooper said. 

Of the four new positions, one will be involved in organized crime as a member of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. 

“We’re doing that as a crystal meth and fentanyl strategy…because we know those drugs are coming through organized crime groups across the provinces,” he said.

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The other three positions will be part of a regional traffic initiative. The entire PRT will cost $5.9 million. SGI will cover 30 new officers at a cost of $4 million while the Ministry of Justice will foot the remaining $1 million.

As part of the recommendations made by the caucus committee, a Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) office will also be established in the city.

“Those SCAN investigators will work with police and bylaw to make neighbourhoods safer and improve some areas where there is low level criminality with drugs and gangs,” Cooper said.

Justice Minister and Attorney General Gordon Wyant said the PRT will improve police response, enhance uniform visibility, increase enforcement of drug trafficking and increase safety on Saskatchewan roads. Chief Cooper acknowledged the strategy as an appropriate and more effective way to address crime.

“We have to be regional because we’ve seen transient criminals and people trafficking across multiple jurisdictions…so we welcome this for sure,” Cooper said.

Teena.Monteleone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TeenaMoneleone