A Red Deer community peace officer was extracted from her vehicle on Saturday around the lunch hour following an alleged hit and run in Riverside Meadows on Dec. 12, 2020. (Red Deer Municipal Policing Services)

By Josh Hall

proper training is a key

Peace officers ready for whatever comes their way in the line of duty

Feb 16, 2021 | 12:10 PM

The head of Red Deer’s Community Peace Officer (CPO) team says his 17 members have the training and knowledge to preserve their own safety when on duty.

Last October, a peace officer in Lacombe County had their vehicle rammed into by suspected thieves. In December, a Red Deer CPO was struck while in their vehicle by a suspect in a stolen SUV.

Both officers were able to recover, but it raises questions about what training peace officers have, which tools they carry for self-defense and how prepared they are to respond when involved in such an incident.

“Every peace officer in Alberta goes through the Justice and Solicitor General Training Academy in Edmonton; they take a six-week course and part of that is going over some self-defense techniques, using a baton, pepper spray, and combat training,” shares Peter Puszka, Superintendent of Municipal Policing Services at The City of Red Deer. “They’re also trained with respect to edged-weapon attacks, ground fighting, and hand-cuffing.”

Puszka says every three years, officers in the province are recertified in use of force and threat pattern recognition, but local members take refresher courses annually.

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“It’s rare occurring that we run into citizens who are resistant to a peace officer, but with their training there are steps they go through when they go to something,” he explains.

“First, there’s the visual presence of them arriving which usually deescalates, and then they use verbal tools, and then they would resort to other tools they have if need be.”

Escalation typically results in another CPO attending as back-up, and then RCMP may be called in if the situation can’t be defused.

CPOs will also do risk assessments on their way to a call, meaning they can check if police have attended a certain location before.

Not only does it help that CPOs are on the same radio system as Mounties, they also have access to RCMP online training related to subjects like drug potency and cannabis, among other things.

But what happens when a peace officer is involved in an incident such as the one in Riverside Meadows last December?

Says Puszka: “RCMP would attend the incident to investigate the criminal or TSA aspect of that incident. Then The City might dispatch a health and safety field specialist, and I would also attend. There’s a health and safety incident report to determine the root cause of what happened to see if there was anything that could help prevent future incidents. This may include things we can go back and train our CPOs on, or providing them with different or new equipment.

“Every time we learn of an issue or understand there might be a safety issue emerging we bring our CPOs in and give them the training they need to address that safety concern when it comes up the next time,” he adds

According to Alberta Justice, there were 11 incidents province-wide in 2020 involving peace officers being injured. There were just two in 2016 and the annual total increased every year since.

Of the 11 last year, six were injuries related to use of force – for example, subduing a violent suspect, incidents involving weapons, assaults, or restraining mental health patients in hospitals. Five were related to other types of injuries such as being bitten by a dog, spraining an ankle, or being involved in a vehicle collision.

“I am confident in my team’s training and ability to stay safe,” Puszka says. “We have trained our peace officers how the government has asked us to, and above. We’re constantly looking outside to add to our members’ training.”

Puszka says there is also increased training related to trauma and what people may be going through on a personal level.

Last year, there were no reported incidents of violence towards Red Deer peace officers, which doesn’t include vehicle collisions.

In 2020, Red Deer CPOs handed out 1,889 Traffic Safety Act violations, which they are empowered to do under Alberta’s Police Act. Of those, 853 were for speeding, with the rest issued for offences such as distracted driving, not wearing a seatbelt, not having insurance, and having invalid licence plates.