Province names chief for policing agency
By Lethbridge Herald on July 3, 2025.
Al Beeber
Lethbridge Herald
The creation of a new provincial police agency moved a step forward on Wednesday with the appointment of a chief for the Independent Agency Policy Service.
The agency, created as a Crown corporation, will be renamed the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service with its headquarters in Calgary.
Sat Parhar, Former deputy chief of the Calgary Police Service, was named IAPS chief. Parhar has more than 25 years of policing experience, including in senior roles with the CPS.
When it becomes operational, the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service is intended to complement existing police forces, including the RCMP as well as municipal and Indigenous services.
The new option was welcomed by Coaldale mayor Jack Van Rijn, who said in a Wednesday statement distributed by the provincial government that “when it comes to policing, municipalities like ours deserve a choice  – especially when the current system leaves us disadvantaged simply because of our size. We look forward to learning more about what that alternative will look like once an Alberta police agency is fully established and the options are clear.Â
“For us, this is about fairness, sustainability, and ensuring municipalities have access to policing  solutions that reflect both their needs and their realities.”
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis said the appointment of Parhar is a “significant step forward in our efforts to establish a more robust, community-focused policing model that is better equipped to meet the unique needs of our local residents.”
The province says the new force will fill law enforcement gaps and ensure resources are deployed efficiently to meet what it calls  “Alberta’s evolving public safety needs” and to improve response  times, especially in rural areas.
The opposition NDP responded to the announcement with both party leader Naheed Nenshi and Shadow Minister for Public Safety David Sheppard expressing their opposition to the move.
“This is something nobody wants, nobody asked for, and it’s going to cost us billions of dollars just so Danielle Smith can say she did something,” said Nenshi, noting it does nothing to address the causes of rural crime or help anyone feel more safe.
Sheppard said the UCP “is putting the cart ahead of the horse. If it walks like a duck…quacks like a duck, it’s a  duck, so whatever they want to call it – the Independent Agency Police  Service, the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service – it is a provincial police force.”
Sheppard said the UCP can’t be believed when the government says the plan isn’t about replacing the RCMP.
“I watched Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis stand on the floor of the Legislature repeatedly this spring and attack and undermine the men and women of the RCMP in this province. It’s very clear he has a  vendetta against the RCMP.”
The NDP agrees with the UCP there is a need to address crime and improve safety in both cities and rural communities alike, “but we just don’t believe the UCP are actually interested in bringing forward an actual solution,” said Sheppard.
He added the UCP is only interested in advancing its own interests and building its power and influence, “unfortunately currently through  stoking separatism and that is directly where this policy comes from. A provincial police force is a zombie idea, one that the vast majority of Albertans have repeatedly rejected but the UCP are refusing to let it go. They keep trying to bring it back to life and force it through.”
In March of 2024, the government introduced the Public Safety Statutes  Amendment Act that would update policing legislation to create the new  policing organization.
At the time, the government said “officers in the new agency would take on responsibility for police like functions currently carried out by the Alberta Sheriffs.These changes will improve the government’s ability to respond to communities’ requests for additional law enforcement support through a new agency that can operate seamlessly alongside local police in the policing environment. The new agency would be operationally independent from the government, as all Alberta’s police services are now.”
On Wednesday, the government said the new service will be operated independently from the government with civilian oversight, consistent with all police services in Alberta.
Premier Danielle Smith said the government’s plan is to build a modern police service that “reflects the priorities of Albertans, strengthens  local decision-making, and ensures every corner of our province, especially rural areas, can count on responsive, effective law enforcement.”
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Smith’s private police force is just another step in strengthening her hold on power. I suspect the majority of Albertans do not support this move but obviously Smith doesn’t care. The initial cost of setting up this force is in the hundreds of millions and will likely be much more. The cost of severance packages once the UCP is punted and the force disbanded will be millions of dollars more. All of this money could have been better used to fix our health care, education and other services for Albertans.
If you will take the time to read this you may acquire more insight as to why we should leave stolen bikes, vandalism, car thefts, thefts in general, and b&e’s in small town Canada to municipal forces and leave those described in the article to a national force, aka the RCMP.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebureau/p/the-quiet-invasion-how-transnational?r=nlphz&utm_medium=ios
shucks, and i bet this is the force our govt will use to “investigate” things like govt corruption. indeed, a separate alberta requires a separate police force.
as for coaldale and its kingdom of a council, not surprised at their mayor’s comments.
Let’s leave the stolen bikes, petty thefts and other assorted crimes to the APP. Have the RCMP do the drug investigations (remember cross border fentanyl) , immigration, customs and excise, espionage and serious crimes that affect the country nationally. After all the RCMP have been the whipping boy and commenters yapping about them at every turn. Now they love them.