2 new teams of specialized sheriffs headed for rural Alberta: Province

Two new teams of Alberta sheriffs are being deployed to support policing in rural communities around the province.

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The two teams of eight sheriffs will be based in Calgary and Edmonton but will be available upon request by rural police and RCMP.

While other Alberta sheriffs are focused on large-scale and organized crime, the new teams will tackle smaller-scale criminal activity.

"Think, for example, of break-ins being committed by prolific offenders, for fuel thefts from innocent farmers," said Mike Ellis, minister of public safety and emergency services.

The teams are trained in advanced mobile surveillance and will cost $2.1 million per year to operate.

Ellis said Alberta has around 400 RCMP vacancies, and the province introduced legislation in March to give provincial sheriffs new responsibilities alongside municipal officers and the RCMP.

"We're going to augment and support all of our police forces in Alberta," Ellis said on Thursday. "We don't have time for the RCMP to figure out their recruiting, and training and deployment."

Dan Jones, a criminologist and retired police inspector, said the expansion of Alberta sheriffs is a solution to the long-term rural crime problem.

"There hasn't been a lot of really strong solutions around it," Jones said. "A lot of times, the vacancies in the RCMP is rural detachments, (creating) an unfair advantage for the individuals committing the crime."

Jones said the expansion could also signal the province's continued desire to move away from the RCMP.

"I think you're seeing a move towards provincial policing," he said. "I don't think there's any way to hide behind it anymore.

"They've talked about it openly. They have worked on it."

A 2022 study commissioned by the United Conservative Party government estimated the cost of starting an Alberta provincial police force would be $366 million.

In March, Ellis clarified that Alberta Sheriffs would not replace the RCMP and that there remained no timeline for a provincial police force.

The new Alberta RCMP head, Rob Hill, said in June that he wants to increase the number of RCMP officers in the province, and that there is "no indication" the RCMP will get out of contract policing. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Chelan Skulski