Traffic safety, youth and community engagement are some of the main focuses for police in the Kennebecasis Valley.
The Kennebecasis Regional Police Force recently released its new strategic plan for 2023 through 2027.
“I see the strategic plan as our roadmap for the next five years,” Chief Steve Gourdeau said in an interview.
Gourdeau said the force held with staff, community partners and residents as part of the plan’s development.
Some of the highlights, he said, were issues around traffic enforcement, youth and community policing.
That feedback helped the force develop its three strategic priorities: community safety and crime prevention; employee engagement and well-being; and excellence in investigations and crime reduction.
Several focus areas were also developed under each priority, such as traffic safety, priority neighbourhoods, intimate partner violence, youth, organizational culture and workplace succession planning.
“Our priorities are not very different than what we had in the last five years, but we are refining some of the initiatives around those priorities to do even better,” said Gourdeau.
For example, Gordeau said they plan to use the resources of a criminal analyst to help the police force be more proactive rather than reactive when dealing with traffic complaints.
This will allow them to get ahead of and validate complaints that police receive, he said.
“We do face, a lot of times, perceptions that there is a problem when in fact there may not be. That’s not in every case, but we need to be more evidence-based,” said Gourdeau.
The police chief said they also need to get back to more “basic policing” by increasing engagement with the community.
You can view the full strategic plan on the police force’s website.
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