Wayne Gallant is the chief of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force. (Image: Brad Perry)
The chief of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force is looking back on 2019 as a good year for the community and the force.
Wayne Gallant said Quispamsis and Rothesay did really well once again in the national crime statistics.
The two communities were named the third safest place to live in Canada by MacLean’s magazine.
Gallant said one of their focuses was to raise the profile of their traffic safety initiatives and increase enforcement levels.
The chief said he believes the increased enforcement has led to safer roads.
“Traffic safety is an important thing down here in the Valley,” said Gallant. “We get a lot of complaints about it from neighbourhoods and that sort of thing. It is one of our strategic priorities, we try to do our best on that.”
Gallant said they also worked on several initiatives to improve health and wellness for employees.
In May, the chief unveiled a new addition to the force: an assisted therapy dog named Rosa.
“For first responders right now, there’s certainly a lot of discussion in various circles around how we can best support our first responders because of the difficult jobs they have to do,” said Gallant.
Gallant said Rosa has been a calming presence for officers after several difficult calls this year.
Kennebecasis police also unveiled a “soft” interview room to help ease stress for crime victims and introduced online criminal record checks.
Looking ahead to 2020, Gallant said they will continue to focus on traffic safety and introducing more initiatives to improve employee health and wellness.
They also want to do something to highlight the police force’s unique history, he said.
“We want to do something in our front lobby aimed at putting a bit of a museum dedicated to the history of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force, formerly the Rothesay Regional Police Force, and formerly the Rothesay Police Department,” said Gallant.
Gallant said they also want to expand their online criminal record check program by installing a kiosk in the lobby.
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