Bonnyville hires community peace officer, begins today

The Town of Bonnyville has found their community peace officer.

Shaz Khan began today (Monday) as Bonnyville’s community peace officer, a position the town felt they needed to hire in a full-time capacity.

“It’s been a number of years since the town has had a CPO because we had an arrangement with the RCMP for the last number of years,” said Bonnyville’s ACAO Bill Rogers.

“But we decided the town needs a person dedicated to only doing that, not doing it part-time so we’ve decided to go back to our community peace officer in that regard,” he said.

Previously, the town funded the RCMP detachment where one of their officers worked part-time in the peace officer position and enforced town bylaws.

Now, they’ve invested a similar amount of money, for their own officer.

“He’s going to be looking after municipal bylaws, and also assisting with other enforcement initiatives we’re working on,” said ACAO Rogers.

“Generally, protective services. He’s also going to assist in our disaster management plan, and policing initiatives with local schools, cooperation with what the RCMP is already doing,” he said.

Khan has a number of years of experience as a peace officer in other communities, which fit the town’s pre-requisite of at least five years.

“This is a very positive initiative, very good for the Town of Bonnyville. It’ll give residents another conduit and more boots on the ground for law enforcement.

“We’ve already spoken to the RCMP in having that same position continue on in that fashion, so we aren’t actually losing any RCMP members, we’re just gaining additional municipal enforcement, so from that perspective it’s a great thing for the town.”