| Alberta Sheriff | |
| Alberta Sheriff's shoulder flash | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2006 |
| Preceding agency | Courts and Prisoner Security (C.A.P.S: 1989-2006) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | Province of Alberta, Canada |
| Population | 3,512,368 |
| Constituting instrument | Peace Officer Act |
| General nature |
|
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Edmonton, Alberta |
| Sworn members | 750 |
| Elected officer responsible | Honourable Jonathan Denis, Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security |
| Agency executive | Vince Caleffi, Chief Sheriff |
| Facilities | |
| Stations | 16 |
| Website | |
| http://www.sheriffs.gov.ab.ca/ | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
Alberta Sheriffs are provincial peace officers appointed by the Ministry of Solicitor General and Public Security of Alberta, Canada, under the authority of the Peace Officer Act. Sheriffs are Alberta peace officers and carry sidearms.
There are several divisions currently operating in various areas around the province. The sheriffs can enforce all provincial and federal acts with active enforcement depending on unit. Training is completed at the Solicitor General's staff college, located in Edmonton. Training is a minimum ten-week basic recruit course, and once on Highway Patrol or other specialized units, a minimum of another 8–12 weeks of training is conducted. Overall Alberta Sheriffs will receive approximately 18–22 weeks of training.
Sheriffs protect Alberta's 74 court facilities, staff and judges. Screening equipment is operated by sheriffs at the public entrances to detect weapons and other contraband.
Sheriffs are responsible for transporting prisoners to and from provincial court houses, correctional facilities and police holding cells. Various types of vehicles are used: Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, Ford Econoline E350 cargo vans and specially designed GMC 5500 Prisoner Transport Trucks.
Sheriffs also assist police with public order and special events like the Stanley Cup Finals, which attracted thousands to the streets in Calgary and Edmonton.
Starting in 2006, the highway patrol is responsible for traffic enforcement of the Traffic Safety Act on provincial highways outside of the major cities of Calgary and Edmonton. The Highway Patrol works with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to assist in the reduction of accidents by dangerous drivers, providing assistance at "checkstop" drinking and driving roadblocks and by investigating property damage collisions.
There are 105 traffic sheriffs working out of eight offices in various locations around the province. Sheriffs in the Alberta Highway Patrol are tasked specifically with traffic enforcement, and they have the power to enforce traffic-related provincial laws, including the Traffic Safety Act, and Liquor and Gaming regulations. Sheriffs can also apprehend individuals who are wanted on outstanding warrants. All traffic sheriffs receive specialized traffic safety training, including collision investigation, and child safety seat inspection.
This unit is responsible for the protection of the premier, other members of the provincial cabinet, and members of the judiciary. This unit is most visible at public events where the premier has been confronted by opponents of oil sands developments.
The Sheriff Operation Communications Centre operates a complex 24-hour Control and Alarm Monitoring Centre in Edmonton. It also provides provincial radio communications and dispatch for sheriffs in the province. It is the central repository for sheriff-initiated warrant control and maintenance. SOCC is the Sheriff Branch’s central hub for Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) data transfer.
The Legislature and Government Centre Security provides security and protection of the Legislature Building and Government Centre. Sheriffs patrol the Legislature and Government Centre Grounds to ensure public order, crime prevention, and safety for all who visit and work at Government Centre.
Alberta Security and Strategic Intelligence Support Team is a highly specialized unit that manages counter-terrorism information and intelligence and develops threat assessments as it relates to Alberta's critical infrastructure.
This unit is divided into two areas, North (Edmonton) and South (Calgary), which cover their respective parts of the province. These teams look for and arrest persons with outstanding warrants who have evaded capture. At any time there are 175,000[1] outstanding arrest warrants in Alberta. Of those, 8,000[1] are for violent or serious crimes. Fugitive apprehension is a specialized investigative skill and capturing these people requires a lot of time and police resources. FASST ensures the process is intelligence led and that tracking efforts can seamlessly cross jurisdictions.
The program, the first of its kind in Canada, plays an important role in promoting safe, secure communities by arresting criminals and decreasing the likelihood of them re-offending and re-victimizing Albertans.
The support of FASST allows local police more time and resources to focus on other priorities like community policing and criminal investigations. Until this program was created, the province's various police agencies, including the RCMP, were solely responsible for tracking people with outstanding warrants and other provincial apprehension warrants. FASST has also received requests for service from the federal immigration department, welfare fraud investigators and the federal justice department's fine-enforcement program.
All agencies that contact the unit have their requests prioritized and assistance is granted in accordance of urgency.
The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit promotes safe communities by targeting and shutting down properties that are regularly used for illegal activities related to drugs, gangs, prostitution and child exploitation.
Provincial SCAN legislation empowers citizens to take back their neighbourhood by reporting problem properties. Complaints are confidential and the identity of the complainant will not be revealed at any time.
The unit uses civil legislation to target properties, not people. Any criminal activities uncovered when dealing with these properties is turned over to the police to investigate.
SCAN investigators will meet with a property owner, or send a warning letter, to try and solve the problem informally before taking legal action.
If informal efforts are unsuccessful, SCAN will apply to the courts for a community safety order (CSO) that requires owners to clean up their property or for the property to be closed for 90 days. Tenants are removed from a property only as a last resort and when there has been no cooperation from the tenants or the owner.
SCAN supports partner law enforcement agencies by targeting commercial or residential problem properties that are often a hugely disproportionate drain on police time and resources.
The Sheriffs Investigative Surveillance Units provides surveillance assistance to Alberta law enforcement agencies conducting ongoing, provincially-focused investigations. For example, SISU has been instrumental in covert DNA collection for police agencies. That service has helped lead to the early arrest and imprisonment of numerous criminals.
The support of SISU allows local police agencies more time and resources to address crime in their communities.
In 2008, SISU assisted with 90 investigations across the province. Of those, 23 were homicide cases and 25 were drug-related investigations.
The rank structure consists of the following: