Community officer hired as 'conduit' between police and First Nation

Fredericton’s police chief says the appointment of a community safety officer at Sitansisk (St. Mary’s First Nation), that opened up from some federal cash, is going well. The $137,355 from the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program is enough to cover the community program officer position for two years. Fredericton police Chief Gary Forward says [...]

Article content Fredericton’s police chief says the appointment of a community safety officer at Sitansisk (St. Mary’s First Nation), that opened up from some federal cash, is going well. The $137,355 from the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program is enough to cover the community program officer position for two years. Fredericton police Chief Gary Forward says the position’s been occupied for five or six months and, if possible, he would “absolutely” like to see the program extended and the same individual kept in that position.

The Fredericton force has long had an agreement to police the First Nation that lies within the city. The community program officer – a social worker who shifted into the role when the position opened – works hand-in-hand with the force’s two officers at Sitansisk (St. Mary’s First Nation), “acting as that conduit between police and community,” building trust, and filling service gaps wherever a police presence might be overkill, Forward said. The funding is to support a program that is “specific to the prevention and the encouragement of looking at the root causes of crime,” he said.

“But it’s much more than that too. It’s going to special events, it’s working with youth, it’s being able to deal with all demographics of people.” Forward said youth crime in the community is one sort that the community program officer could help to weed out.

“This (funding) is for Sitansisk First Nation, but there’s youth crime across the city ... but this position would be specific to different challenges the First Nations community themselves might be facing,” he said. A staff report said the individual will conduct “visibility patrols” to locate various safety risks and concerns, supporting crime prevention and educational initiatives around family violence, substances and more.

The police chief said Sitansisk had “openly” communicated that they “very much like the person that they have in position right now,” and would like to see them continue in that role, though they aren’t a member of Sitansisk themselves. “We’re really hoping that this not only stays in place moving forward, but that we can, as a police force in partnership with the community, start to see just how exactly we can build trust moving forward.” Sitansisk Chief Allan Polchies did not return a request for comment.