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By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

provincial panel struck

Red Deer gets a voice on new ALERT civilian committee

Jun 7, 2019 | 11:46 AM

A City of Red Deer director is one of the faces on new province-wide civilian advisory committee on policing.

The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) recently formed the committee to gather input and guidance from the province’s major cities.

Paul Goranson, Red Deer’s Director of Protective Services applied for one of the nine available spots, and says he’s honoured to have been selected.

“One of the things that attracted me to it was because ALERT does a lot of great work, most of it behind the scenes.

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“The City provides and funds six members that work in partnership with ALERT, then there are another six members that are provided and funded through ALERT, so a combined force of 12 doing work in central Alberta,” Goranson explains.

“This now gives us an opportunity to hear what their strategies are overall and have an impact to make sure that central Alberta is being well represented in the work that they’re doing.”

Goranson says his appointment to the committee is consistent with city council’s strategic direction on community safety, adding that this is just one more tactic or tool that will hopefully have long-term benefits in reducing overall crime.

“We’ve had an opportunity to ask questions,” Goranson says of a recent meeting with police chiefs involved with ALERT.

“They’re saying they want to make sure what they’re doing is supporting what communities need. They’re very open to listening to us and using us to guide what they are or aren’t doing.”

This summer, the civilian advisory committee will tour ALERT headquarters in Edmonton, and conduct further discussions.