New Edmonton police chief says he wants service to be more proactive

Edmonton's new chief of police, Warren Driechel, sits down with Kent Morrison to talk about his priorities as chief and where he sees the EPS going.

Edmonton’s new chief of police, Warren Driechel, joined CTV Your Morning Edmonton on Friday to discuss his hiring, how policing is changing and the service’s relationship with city council.

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This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Kent Morrison: Let’s talk about your priorities. You’re now in charge. What is your number one priority coming into the job?

Warren Driechel: This week has obviously been the first week, (it) was just really sit down with the leadership team and talk about where do we want to go as an organization? What are the things we need to focus on? We often hear about community safety, perception, safety in our community. How do we start to become a more agile organization?

Policing over the last couple of years has become very traditional in terms of how we respond to crime. Very reactive to crime, we wait for somebody to call, we go to the call. One of the things we continue to hear from the community is they want to see the police more proactive in their community. They want to see them out engaging in the community, visible. And we know that, through some of the work we’ve done in the past in the transit areas of the downtown core, when the police are present, when they’re visible, people feel safer.

So it’s breaking that mold of that reactive model, and looking, how do we become more proactive in the community? And that’s a big shift, believe it or not. It’s not just as easy as telling our members they need to do it. It’s looking at the things that are slowing them down. What are the administrative things, the technical things are getting in the way? What’s new in terms of how they do investigations that keep them from being out on the street, so that’s a big focus for us.

KM: How do you achieve that when the city is quite literally growing bigger and bigger?

WD: The city is huge, like it takes sometimes our members several days, in some cases, to get to calls nowadays, because they’re not priorities, right? What other tools and things can we do to engage the community differently, so new online tools of reporting, new ways to maybe do investigations virtually, and start to free those members up to be able to do that.

Community engagement is huge. We talk to the community quite a bit. They want the police to be present, right? It’s on us as leaders to figure out what is slowing us down. How do we become more effective and get out back into the community?

KM: Now, a tenuous relationship with your predecessor and city council. There is a new one coming in less than a month. What do you want from the new council?

WD: I’ve been working very closely with city council, city admin, over the last several months already. I think what I just want to do is maintain that relationship.

I meet with the mayor and the police commission every month. Continue those discussions. I’m meeting with the city manager, the chief of fire, the director of ambulance services every month, so sitting down and talking about public safety, and just continue to have that support.

I recognize that maybe in the past, there’s been tension between the service and council. It doesn’t do anyone any good. It doesn’t do the community good. It doesn’t do the service well, and I think that just maintaining that productive relationship forward is really important for us.

KM: Your appointment didn’t come without criticism. Earlier in your career you were involved in a steroid scandal that continues to be part of the conversation. Now that you’re at the helm of the organization. What do you say to critics of your appointment?

WD: I understand why people would be concerned. None of us are perfect. I’ve tried very hard to not let this define me. Move past it.

If anything, it’s given me appreciation for the challenges of policing, some of those risks that mental health can bring to someone. Give me a chance to kind of show that I’m committed to this community and the service to move it forward.

KM: Will the public be seeing a lot of you as the chief?

WD: I’m going to try to do that. I’m already trying to structure the office so that I can get myself out there. I put a bunch of blocks in my calendar already. It’s like the first week to find those opportunities to put some space in my calendar so I can be out there.

I think that’s really important. I think you look at any executive position in any company organization nowadays, the real challenge is not getting stuck to those administrative duties. And I want to be a very inward-looking chief. I want to support the organization. I want to support the community.

I’ve had some great opportunities to work with special partners across the city, and I want to continue those relationships but I need to find the time. Committing up front, I think, is really important.