Lt. Governor on hand to bestow medals on LPS staff
By Lethbridge Herald on May 14, 2025.
Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald
On Tuesday, Her Honour, The Honourable Salma Lakhani, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, presented Deputy Chief Gerald Grobmeier, Sgt. Bill Basso, Catherine Pooley and Stephane Contre, with King Charles III Coronation Medals for their contributions to community safety, well-being and innovation.
During the ceremony, Lakhani spoke about the importance of volunteering and said that without volunteers the world wouldn’t move.
“I am so delighted to be here, to recognize outstanding members of the Lethbridge Police Service,” she said.
She quoted King Charles III during his coronation in 2023 and shared that he said, “I come not to be served, but to serve.”
“Today as his Majesty the King’s representative in Alberta, I am proud to acknowledge the medal recipients who share the same dedication and commitment to service as our Monarch.”
Grobmeier, who escorted Lakhani during her visit, was also one of the award recipients. Throughout his 32-year policing career, he was stationed across Canada working in large and remote detachments and served in Germany as a liaison officer for four years. He was instrumental in in fostering a working relationship between the RCMP and Polish prosecutors in a high-profile incident at the Vancouver airport that garnered international attention.
Grobmeier has helped implement highly successful CompStat programs throughout Canada and is a leader in organizational wellness, providing support for initiatives involving early intervention and reintegration. He also supported a major reconciliation project for LPS and has been an avid volunteer, coaching soccer at various levels and serving on multiple boards.
Sgt. Bill Basso is the longest actively serving LPS officer, with 36 years of dedicated service to the community.
“Within that time frame, I spent a significant amount of time in the Forensic Identification Unit, both as a constable and a supervisor for several year and had the opportunity to train other law enforcement individuals in the field of forensics,” said Basso.
He added that he specifically trained them in blood spatter pattern analysis, which he specialized in and became an expert, as recognized by the courts.
Basso was seconded to the Alberta Police Integrated Information Initiative (API3) for two years. While the provincial project did not come to fruition, his leadership and guidance were instrumental. He’s currently the LPS representative on the Alberta Police Review Commission Implementation Team, the working group that is developing the new public agency that will oversee and investigate allegations of police misconduct in alignment with the Police Amendment Act 2022.
“I am deeply humbled and honoured by this award,” said Basso.
Catherine Pooley is the manager of the LPS Victim/Witness Services Unit, managing a team of more than 60 volunteers who play a critical role providing trauma-informed, client-centered support of victims of crime and trauma in Lethbridge and southern Alberta.
“I love recognizing my team, I have an incredible group of volunteers, and I am very happy to celebrate them any chance I get,” said Pooley. “I’m a little less comfortable being the one recognized.”
She added that she received the award on behalf of her team, because they are the ones who are doing all “the heavy lifting” and the work that has been acknowledged.
One of the achievements for which she was recognized Tuesday is the expansion of trauma support services through the implementation of two Facility Dogs within LPS, Court and Cruiser. These dogs specialize in providing support and comfort to employees, victims and the community at large.
Pooley was also recognized for some work that has been done in terms of building collaboration in the community.
“We’re able to continue offering a third option program for sexual assault survivors, which because of funding challenges The Amethyst program was removed from the community, but we are able to continue to offer that program thanks to some collaboration and partnerships built up over the years,” she said.
Additionally, Pooley’s leadership has established the LPS Victim/Witness Services Unit as a benchmark program in Canada.
Stephane Contre recently retired from his post as the as the Criminal Strategic Analytics Manager for LPS, after pioneering innovative data solutions that have led to significant crime reduction in our community.
“My team and I looked at analytics and data management to improve how officers respond to crime and how we can analyze that data to better serve our citizens,” said Contre.
He said a lot of it was innovative work, looking at things like artificial intelligence or advanced analytics that would allow them to pinpoint what offenders might do and what they could do to prevent them from committing other crimes.
Prior to his role here, Contre was Chief Analytics Officer with the city of Edmonton. Before that, he began his career as an Infantry Officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, where he served in Bosnia, led the Canadian Forces Parachute Team and trained troops for international deployments.
He served as a police officer with the Ottawa Police Service and Regional Security Manager in Chad, where he successfully mitigated security risks. He also served as Deputy Commanding Officer, leading intelligence operations in various overseas environments.
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