An emotional Chief of Police, Andy McGrogan, speaks at the city council meeting on Dec. 21, where he was thanked for his service ahead of his pending retirement.--News photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
There have been no lack of interesting days at work for Andy McGrogan over the last 40 years, and though most were centred on something bad, the retiring police chief says that over time, he’s learned to also see, then evetentually focus on, the good all around him.
“There are tragedies and bad things that happen, and people that make your head shake,” he told the News, stating 95 per cent of people are simply “good people trying to live their lives.”
“I concentrate on the behaviour not the person… and I run into old criminals now that I’m an old cop. They’re good people who’ve straightened their lives out.”
McGrogan’s last day on the job is Christmas Eve after a 40-year career in local policing and the last 12 years as head of the service.
He was lauded at the final council meeting of 2020 this week, with long-serving member of the Police Commission, Coun. Julie Friesen, saying McGrogan’s leadership was exemplary. His work leading the Alberta Chiefs of Police Association and national-level policing efforts, are an example of his character.
Coun. Jamie McIntosh called McGrogan a “father figure” in the community.
An emotional McGrogan thanked council for the kind words, and returned to a more stoic pose during an interview with the News.
“It’s been a little bit strange, I’m not expecting a ticker tape parade, but I’ve had a good career and no one owes me a darn thing,” he said.
In terms of accomplishments, McGrogan said he “doesn’t keep score.”
He was deputy chief when then chief Gord Earl died suddenly in office, and he became chief in late 2008.
Since then the Medicine Hat Police Service saw a major facility expansion earlier this decade, and the service launched a priority street crimes unit, a family violence joint initiative and, more recently, a downtown patrol unit. It has taken a lead role in regional organized crime ALERT Unit, and been in discussions about tackling local opioid crisis.
A major recent shift in police administration in North America focuses on budget scrutiny, diversification and oversight of police discipline.
“I’m concerned as a citizen, how do we keep getting the best and brightest young men and women to consider a career in policing,” he said.
Medicine Hat has also seen several steep declines in the economy since 2009, and also seen a precipitous change in drug crime, towards more-severe activity linked to methamphetamine use.
In the long view, said McGrogan, one of the most striking differences is the change around how the service conducts high-speed chases.
“It was petty western when I started, but we’ve tamed that approach over the years, probably a good thing for safety of the public and (service) members,” he said.
A most memorable case as an inspector; he and partner Mick Nieman spent months in the late 1990s breaking a cold case that turned up the body of a missing man in garden boxes of his home on Prospect Drive. The man’s wife, suffering from advanced Alzheimers at that time, was the only suspect but charges were not pursued.
Most challenging event as a tactical team leader was an overnight standoff with a mentally ill man in 2001 that was ended with the discovery of three slain members of Chris LeClaire’s family in their Southeast Hill home.
McGrogan was off case management and in senior administration by 2007 when the triple murder on Cameron Road of two parents and their young son made national headlines, but was a leader of officers that grappled with it.
“That impacted the service greatly,” said McGrogan.
“There’s probably five careers to this career, in a car working the street, then K9 – that was fun – then on to supervisory duties,” he said.
“There’s fun files and some tragic ones … but every day was an adventure, and I owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Medicine Hat.”
McGrogan, who announced his pending retirement early in the year, has no immediate plans, but will remain in the community in retirement.
Medicine Hat’s next police chief, Mike Worden, will start in the position on Jan. 4. The Hat native was recently a superintendent with the Calgary Police Service where he spent a 25-year career in operations and administration.
