The Grande Prairie RCMP is hosting a pair of town halls to give residents the chance to discuss crime, public safety, and policing concerns in the Grande Prairie region.
Superintendent Peter King will be joined by members of his detachment to answer questions, conduct a presentation, and engage with residents. Public Information Officer Corporal Patrick Macphee says community input is critical in his agency’s model and looks forward to hearing from everyone in attendance.
“I think the hopes of town halls and being able to interact in more of a proactive approach are that we can kind of get ahead and understand the needs of our community from the people in the community,” he says.
McPhee is a Grande Prairie resident as well as a police officer, and he says oftentimes, police and residents wish for the same things in their community, and hearing first-hand information from community members is just another way for the local RCMP to better serve the community.
“I think we can all agree that there are certain things that will always be important from an enforcement perspective, but I think just getting a real first-hand account from the people that live in the community of what their concerns are, it helps us understand what we need to do, or where we should be directing our resources.”
While the RCMP remains the police of jurisdiction until 2026, McPhee says it’s business as usual for his detachment, and the RCMP remains committed to engaging with residents, until the GPPS takes over.
“It’s still kind of business as usual, there’s still calls for service coming in and we’re continuing to address those, and whatever the needs of the community are,” he says.
Two open houses are on the calendar, with the first scheduled for November 26th and the second scheduled for the day after. Both events will run from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Teresa Sergent Hall in the Montrose Cultural Centre.
