Chief lays out MHPS goals for 2019
By Jeremy Appel on January 5, 2019.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel Medicine Hat police chief Andy McGrogan spoke to the News about the force’s priorities for 2019, many of which were laid out in its four-year strategic plan prepared for city council in 2018. The Medicine Hat Police Service is down one officer from last year and reduced its operating budget by about 3.5 per cent, McGrogan said. “We’re basically going into the year with not a lot of new project money, but there’s still a lot of things we’re building on,” he said. The MHPS will be rolling out its e-ticketing program as soon as possible, which McGrogan says will save time for officers and civillians, and is already funded. “Our officers will have the ability to enter their tickets electronically in the car. And so, when you pull over, let’s say, someone who’s speeding, they’ll be able to just download the information (and) print off the ticket in the car,” he said. Another digitized feature the MHPS is introducing this year is its mobile app. “The community will have better communication with our police service (and) the ability to report crime on the app,” said McGrogan. The app will also include a catalogue for stolen property, which will allow members of the public to view items that may belong to them. And it will have a bicycle registry, for people to register their bikes in case they’re stolen. The MHPS isn’t hiring any new officers in 2019, but is preparing to recruit and train for 2020, with an enhanced focus on diversity and community representation. “Our standards are our standards, but it’s usually the filter is coming in the front door, so we’re really going to go out there and try to hit that whole diversity piece with our recruitment efforts,” said McGrogan. On the operational side, the MHPS will be working on its impaired driving strategy, which is to be built around new laws that went into effect in late 2018, allowing for mandatory drug and alcohol impairment testing, in addition to forthcoming regulations on cannabis edibles. Nobody has been charged with cannabis-impaired driving since legalization day in October, but McGrogan suspects the legalization of edibles could change that, with more people partaking in cannabis use. “It’s going to open up a whole new market of cannabis consumption,” he said. “If you’re not a smoker, it’s unlikely you’re going to roll up a big fatty and hit the deck and have a smoke, but you might have a cannabis-infused beverage.” 16
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