The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) is the municipal police force for the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The current chief of the EPS is Dale McFee. McFee is the second highest paid police chief in Canada with an annual salary of $357,000 (2023),[4] following Vancouver's police chief Adam Palmer, who in 2022 was paid $493,932.[5]
The service has three deputy chiefs – two sworn members and a civilian member. Chad Tawfik is responsible for the Corporate Services Bureau, Kevin Brezinski runs the Intelligence and Investigations Bureau, and Darren Derko heads the community policing bureau.[6]
The city is divided into divisions for general patrol purposes:
Northeast
Northwest
Downtown
West
Southwest
Southeast
Each division is separated into four smaller districts to allow for better deployment of resources. The majority of police officers of the Edmonton Police Service serve within the community policing bureau as patrol constables, sergeants, detectives, or staff sergeants.
Officers of the Edmonton Police Service have the highest first year constable salaries in Canada[7] at a minimum of $71,195 per annum (or $34.09 an hour), EPS officers who work a shift where half or more of that shift falls between the hours of 4:00 p.m. and midnight receive an extra $1.10 an hour. EPS officers who work a shift where half or more of that shift falls between the hours of midnight and 8:00 a.m. receive an extra $1.20 an hour, increasing the minimum hourly rate for first year constables to $30.47 or about $63,621.00 per annum. Special event policing pays $93.89 an hour. Sergeants and detectives are paid a minimum $120,742.00 per annum, or about $57.82 an hour, and staff sergeants are paid a minimum $132,816.00 per annum, or about $63.60 an hour.[8] Each uniformed officer receives an annual clothing allowance of $597, and each plain-clothed officer receives $1,285.
In July 2023, Edmonton Police Services secured a 7% retroactive pay increase for officers, at an estimated additional cost of $20m to the City of Edmonton for the 2024 budget. A 5th year constable will now make $54.53 an hour, the highest rate in Alberta behind Lethbridge Police Services, where the same position would make $54.60 as of 2023.[9]
Within the specialized community support bureau – criminal investigations division, the major crimes branch is divided into economic crimes, homicide and robbery. These areas are primarily made up of detectives and staff sergeants. The serious crimes area deals with sexual assault, child protection, and vice. These areas are also made up of detectives and staff sergeants. The Edmonton Police Service is also a member of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams.
Policing in Edmonton dates back to 1892, well before the founding of the province. In this year, a town police force took over duties formerly served by the North-West Mounted Police they were unwilling to take responsibility for enforcing law and order in the city following the 1892 Rat Creek Rebellion.[10]
On July 27, 1892, P.D. Campbell was the first police officer hired by the town of Edmonton. Aside from dealing with law enforcement issues, Campbell was also Edmonton's health and licence inspector.[11]
The Mounties resumed the maintenance of law and order in the City and the Edmonton Police Department was founded to stay in 1894.
In 1911, Alex Decoteau was hired by the Edmonton Police Department. He was the first Indigenous person to be hired by a police department in Canada.[12]
On October 1, 1912, Annie May Jackson was hired as a police officer. She was the first woman constable in Canada, serving from 1912 to 1918.[13]
Edmonton police officers used an airplane to pursue a criminal in 1919. This was the first time a Canadian police service used this technology in a pursuit. Former WWI ace Wop May flew an airplane to assist the successful pursuit and capture of John Larsen, murderer of Edmonton constable William Nixon.[14][15]
During the sixth decade of policing, from 1942 to 1952, the department continued to grow.
In 1943, the Neighbourhood Police Force was seen policing Edmonton's streets. An Edmonton police officer was paired up with an American military police officer to patrol because there were many U.S. servicemen in Edmonton at the time. After 18 months, it was discontinued when there was no longer a need for it. The end of the main work on the Alaska Highway, based in Edmonton, and the easing of the Japanese invasion threat meant fewer U.S. personnel in Edmonton by 1944.[12]
In 1947, formal recruit training was introduced. Prior to the formal training, officers were sent to the streets with minimal instruction. After six months of training in 1949, 15 officers graduated.[12]
In 1951, the department recruited in Scotland and Ireland after struggling to meet recruit demands.[11]
In 1955, basic training class number one graduated, with 28 members completing the course.[11]
Edmonton Police's pipe band, which had formed in 1914, halted because of the war. It re-emerged in 1959 and became a visible public relations tool still performing today.
Edmonton's growth and militarized policing practicesedit
In the 1960s, the towns of Beverly and Edmonton joined and the Jasper Place Police Department joined forces with the Edmonton Police Department, adding the population of Jasper Place to Edmonton.[11]
Sarge, a dog, officially joined the department in 1963. The dog squad grew, and a kennel and training ground were opened by the municipal airport in 1974. The location is the same, and is named after Sarge's owner, Val Vallevand.[12]
In the 1980s, the Edmonton Police Service adopted new, American-style policing practices - most notably the use of a militarized riot squad to suppress the 1986 Gainers Meatpackers Strike. In 1986 after years of stagnant and declining wages and eroded provincial labour conditions and laws, local millionaire and owner of the Edmonton Oilers and the Gainers meatpacking plant Peter Pocklington provoked a massive strike after threatening to cut wages from $13.00 an hour to $7.00 an hour, among other attacks on benefits and conditions. 1080 meatpackers picketed the plant with widespread support from community members and other unions. On the second day of the strike, Gainers secured an injunction and Edmonton Police helped break the strike by allowing buses carrying scabs through and arresting workers at will - with over 300 arrested on June 3 alone. In the first month of the strike, Edmonton Police deployed 1/3 of their force to the Gainers picket line, including their riot squad for the first time. They also spent their entire annual overtime budget of $500,000 in these first few days alone. As described by Dave Werlin, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour at the time, "If the police had never shown their faces at the picket lines, no one would have tried to run buses through, there would have been no violence or arrest".[16]
In 2021 after a two-year delay related to roof collapse and other structural and mechanical failures, a new Northwest Edmonton Police Service Campus was opened at 18440-127 Street NW. The 183,000 compound operates as a training facility and divisional station, but also has 70 detainee cells. The city of Edmonton spent an estimated $119.7 million on the project, including the over budgeted $12 million cost of replacing the roof.[17]
On Friday, December 15, 2023, the EPS sent a notice out to social service and homeless support organizations in the Edmonton downtown core, announcing their plan to displace and remove 134 tents and structures at what they deemed to be 'eight high-risk encampments' over the course of 5 days, right before Christmas. The planned operation would be one of the largest and fastest encampment sweeps in Edmonton's history, and would be carried out by police in conjunction with city employees. An emergency court filing by lawyers working for the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights secured an interim injunction against the sweeps, to be ruled on by Judge Davidson on Monday, December 18, 2023. A temporary injunction was granted, stating that encampment sweeps could still occur but with certain conditions in place - most notably, that police and city workers had to first guarantee that enough shelter spaces are open before carrying out sweeps. Critics have said this avoids key issues, namely that existing shelter spaces have stringent rules (no couples allowed, no pets allowed, religious foundational principles), are also only temporary and inadequate housing solutions, and are often unsafe to people staying in them.[18][19][20]
Following a few days of delay, the encampment sweeps proceeded. As of January 12, all eight "high-risk" encampments have been evicted, displacing and destroying roughly 120 tents and other living structures.[21] At the last sweep on January 10 at Rowland Road encampment, as temperatures outside dipped to -30 degrees Celsius, three people were arrested - including award-winning Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin, camp elder Roy Cardinal, and Dene and Blackfoot drummer, observer, and activist Teyen Bohnsack.[22] Bohnsack was charged with assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest, though multiple different video and eyewitness sources claim that the officer involved instigated the violence by pushing Bohnsack's wife Kiya Tailleur to the ground, unprovoked.[23]
One of the peace officers claiming obstruction of justice is Amber Maze, also a former candidate for the Wildrose Party.[24][25] The officer who claimed to be assaulted by Bohnsack, Constable Michael Zacharuk, has a history of unlawful violence and was charged in 2022 after an ASIRT investigation, with assault causing bodily harm for assaulting a man in his custody.[23][26]
A lawsuit against the City of Edmonton, planned for January 11, 2024, which sought to ban encampment sweeps and evictions while the city continues to offer no other housing alternatives, was heard but the hearing was pushed back.[21] Following the highly publicized Rowland Road encampment sweep, Edmonton mayor Amarjeet Sohi announced his intention to declare a housing and homelessness emergency - a decision which was passed later that month.[27]
On January 16, 2024, Alberta judge Jonathan Martin quashed the Coalition's lawsuit, siding with the City's legal team, and ruled that "The Coalition does not in fact bear any of the hallmarks of a party with a real stake or genuine interest in the outcome.”[28][29] The City is also seeking $25,000 in legal costs from the non-profit Coalition for Justice and Human Rights, claiming that "to evade costs would encourage parties that do not have a real stake or genuine issue in the outcome to bring litigation knowing that there is no risk of a cost award against them".[28][30]
Since the lawsuit was overturned, over 49 homeless encampments have been dismantled, displacing at least 211 structures and over 175 people.[31]
The Edmonton Police Service has been involved in numerous cases of misconduct, corruption, and police brutality in recent[when?] years. Almost none of the cases, whether investigated through internal disciplinary committees or through the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) led to convictions or firings of allegedly offending officers. ASIRT investigations are lengthy, sometimes taking between five and seven years to complete, and are often granted extensions for many years in a row.
Many of the cases between 1993 and 2022 are documented in the Alberta Police Misconduct Database.[32] Some notable examples of EPS police brutality allegations include:
Project Fisk: following a three-year investigation into Edmonton landlord Abdullah Shah (aka Carmen Pervez) which concluded with one charge being laid, Detective Dan Behiels provided 64 GB of internal documents to CBC reporter Janice Johnston after trying to raise concerns internally. Between 2016 and 2018, 10% of Edmonton's homicides occurred on properties owned by Shah. In a January 2021 letter to Chief Dale McFee, Behiels wrote that he believed "Shah had 'close-knit relationships with senior EPS executive officers'", and "that members of the Edmonton Police Service have engaged in corrupt acts that have effectively insulated this criminal organization from investigation and prosecution." Behiels was relieved of duty on February 4, 2021, has had his pay revoked, and was labelled a whistleblower by EPS leadership and representatives.[33][34]
The alleged assault of an unarmed Indigenous teenager, Pacey Dumas, by Constable Ben Todd, who was not charged.[35]
The 2017 beating of 21-year-old Ronnie Mickasko by at least 15 officers, while he was laying face-down on the ground and surrendering. Mickasko was left with a fractured right orbital bone, nerve damage, a scratched retina, facial trauma and multiple facial lacerations, and spent 9 weeks recovering in the Edmonton Remand Centre infirmary. After a nearly six-year investigation during which two of the offending officers (Detective William Thomas and Sergeant Vincent Boe) received promotions, a punishment of 35 hours of community service was mandated.[36]
Between 2012 and 2023, at least 38 members of the Edmonton Police Service retired or left their positions during internal disciplinary hearings into allegations against them.[37]
The EPS Guard of Honour and Historical Unit is a special unit of the EPS composed of dedicated policemen who serve as professional ambassadors of the City of Edmonton to the public. It was introduced to the EPS in 1998, and has provided consistent protocol demonstrations at events such as:
Remembrance Day parade
EPS Awards Day
EPS graduations
Dignitary escorts
Police officer funerals and memorials
The historical unit ceremonially represents the EPS at its various historical events. The uniform that is worn is a replica of the EPS uniform worn in the early 1900s.[38]
PPCLI parading with the pipes and drums at its head, July 1917.The band at the Alberta Legislature Building in May 2010.
The Edmonton Police Service Pipe Band was formed in 1914, although it was immediately dissolved at the start of the First World War, with its musicians being transferred to the Canadian Expeditionary Force to join Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) and lead the regiment into battle. Members of the pipe band also served as stretcher bearers for the regiment for the duration of the war during the war. The Pipes and Drums of the EPS were re-founded in 1961, and as a result of this historical arrangement, the band has grown closer with the PPCLI unlike other police bands. The band was first invited to play at the PPCLI beating retreat ceremony in 1964 and then at the regimental trooping of the colour in 1967.[39] Today, it is the only non-military civilian band within the Commonwealth to wear the badges of three Canadian regiments: the PPCLI, the Canadian Airborne Regiment and The Loyal Edmonton Regiment.[40] While serving as a public relations tool for the EPS, it still performs alongside the regiments today during public events in Edmonton.[41]
Cambli Black Wolf, or Armoured Rescue Vehicle (ARV) 2[43]
The Edmonton Police Service is the only Canadian city other than Toronto and Calgary that possesses more than one armoured police vehicle. The first armoured vehicle obtained by EPS was the vintage 'Grizzly', donated to them in 2007 by the Department of National Defense. The Cambli Black Wolf was purchased in 2017 for an estimated $500,000, without notice or approval by the City. EPS Chief Dale McFee claims it was purchased to replace the Grizzly, but this statement was criticized as 'tone deaf' by Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, among many others including Press Progress, the news organization that leaked the purchase. Criticisms largely focused on context of the Cambli Black Wolf's purchase, which was made public during the Black Lives Matter movement, which brought to light issues and criticisms of police brutality across North America and the world.[44]
On November 26, 2021, a police ARV got stuck on a crab tree stump in local author Candas Dorsey's backyard when responding to a call. The vehicle broke Dorsey's fence, knocked over a tree and multiple bushes, destroyed much of the topsoil, and was leaking transmission fluid onto the lawn - causing between $20,000-$25,000 in damages. Dorsey stated in an interview that neighbours and the community helped repair much of the backyard, and also that "The law fought the stump and the stump won."[45]
Each marked vehicle has the Whelen Legacy lightbar, (excluding the Ford Interceptor Sedans that are equipped with LED X light bars and some Code 3 sirens. The EPS uses the D&R RDS 16 siren in the majority of their fleet, as well as the howler brand.
Each year the Edmonton Police Service honours individuals for their service through a number of awards or medals including:
Award of Merit
Medal of Valour and Medal of Honour
Exemplary Tactics
Jim Dempsey Service Award
Commendations including: Bravery; Lifesaving; Exceptional Police Investigations; Exceptional Performance; Outstanding Work in the Community; Outstanding Contribution to Police Work; Innovation; and Problem Solving.
^ abcdMontgomery, Kenneth (1982). Pride in the past, 1894-1982. Edmonton, Alberta: Edmonton Police Service. ISBN978-0-9691134-0-9.
^ abcdMair, Alex (1992). E.P.S. : the first 100 years: a history of the Edmonton Police Service. Edmonton, Alberta: Edmonton Police Service. ISBN978-1-55056-204-0.
^Donaghey, Sam (1972). A history of the City of Edmonton Police Department; blue, red and gold, 1892-1972. Edmonton, Alberta: Edmonton Police Service. OCLC464867871.
^"Military Connections". epspipeband.ca. Pipes & Drums of the Edmonton Police Service. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
^"100th Anniversary PPCLI". epspipeband.ca. Pipes & Drums of the Edmonton Police Service. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
