The Alberta government says a new provincial police force is moving ahead as they revealed the agency’s first chief of police.
Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis were in Calgary for the Wednesday afternoon announcement, saying new chief Sat Parhar’s appointment marks the next step in giving municipalities a new option for local policing.
The province also announced the new service will be renamed the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service with its head office located in Calgary. It’s still unclear when the new force will be fully operational.
The RCMP would remain the official police service in Alberta, but the province has spoken of concerns with rising costs of RCMP service and response times in some rural areas.
“The Alberta Sheriffs Police Service is not meant to replace the RCMP, or any other police force,” says Smith. “It will work alongside existing branches of law enforcement to fill gaps and ensure that resources are filled efficiently.”
Parhar has more than 25 years of policing experience, including time as the deputy chief in Calgary. His initial responsibilities include hiring an executive team as well as to work on recruitment and training policies.
“It’s a tremendous responsibility and opportunity to help build something brand new,” says Parhar.
NDP leader Naheed Nenshi says he doubts the move is not about replacing the RCMP, and is expressing concerns about the cost numbers the province has yet to provide.
“This is something nobody wants, nobody asked for,” says Nenshi. “It is going to cost us billions of dollars just so Danielle Smith can say she did something.”
The UCP government unveiled plans for Bill 49 in April that, if passed, would allow communities to choose the new agency as their police force, while the RCMP would remain Alberta’s official law enforcement service.
“We’re taking a phased and responsible approach to building the IAPS,” said Arthur Green, the press secretary for the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services.
“Initial funding has been allocated to support startup work — like hiring IAPS leadership, developing policies and standards and setting up infrastructure.”
Green says that Budget 2025 already accounts for the costs of the police force, noting it “includes $6 million in 2025-26, $7 million in 2026-27, and $7 million in 2027-28 to support an implementation team, initial leadership, and planning and implementation.”
Ellis said at the time, the province wants to empower local governments to choose policing methods that align best with their safety concerns. In the spring, the government said the new force would take over policing duties now performed by Alberta Sheriffs, though officers in the new service would be directly employed by the force.
Smith and the UCP have been increasing the power of sheriffs over the last year, including adding a new fugitive team in Calgary and new surveillance units in rural Alberta.
Ellis has previously stated sheriffs need to be ready for more responsibilities in case the RCMP pulls out of contract policing when its deal with Alberta expires in 2032.
Three years ago, municipal leaders with Alberta Municipalities voted to reject the UCP’s provincial policing model and expressed concerns regarding additional startup and operational costs.