Peace officer emergency response, pursuit policy adopted by council

Times Reporter 

 

Last month the town council adopted a new Emergency Response/Pursuit Policy at the request of the Solicitor General Jonathon Denis. Strathmore Community Peace Officer Teresa Fuchs brought the policy forward for approval in July. 

“Our president of the Alberta Community Police Association who does the EVOC course that we took, Emergency Vehicle Operations (Course), this was a policy that he put into place at Provost when he worked there,” said Fuchs.

“After we finished the course he sent me a copy of his policy and being the president of Community Peace Officers it was a very good policy.”

The policy is to help establish guidelines and proper procedures for responding to emergencies, proper reporting procedures and training guidelines for all officers in the department.  

Before being able to respond to an emergency call and utilizing emergency equipment, each peace officer must have proper authorization. In order to the have the proper authorization, each peace officer must complete a 40 hour Emergency Vehicle Operations Course that is based on police curriculum. All peace officers must also take EVOC recertification training every five years. 

According to the policy, peace officers may respond to emergency calls and use emergency equipment when there is an injury collision, while providing backup to police or peace officers when there is the belief that the officer is in serious danger and the peace officer is the closest assistance available, when attending a fire or medical emergency at the specific request of the fire or EMS department and for any emergency situation if requested by the police to attend in an emergency response capacity. 

Any peace officer that chooses to respond in an emergency capacity is to notify the police by radio of their response to that particular situation. 

In the case of a pursuit the policy states that a motor vehicle pursuit presents an extreme risk to the public safety and shall not be conducted by any peace officer appointed under the Peace Officer Act. The peace officer is expected to contact their local police and inform them of the situation, give them the vehicle make and direction of travel. There are stipulations and circumstances when a peace officer may be closing the distance, or involved in a catch up situation which aren’t classed as a pursuit. 

“I read this over and it’s a great looking policy, I like the directions especially in regards to pursuits…that direction is of course that they shall not happen,” said Councillor Bob Sobol at the July meeting.   

The policy provides specific guidelines for other situations a peace officer may be involved in regarding emergency response or pursuit.