SASKATOON — The Saskatoon Police Service opened its doors to young and old residents for its annual community barbecue on Wednesday, July 12, beside the SPS headquarters on Ontario Avenue.
SPS Chief Troy Cooper said they hold the community barbecue event annually, but this year was particularly special since the city’s police service is celebrating its 120th founding anniversary. Former North-West Mounted Police constable Robert Dunning was SPS’ first chief of police.
"This is an annual barbecue where we display some of our programs and equipment. We also have officers whom people can talk to if they are interested in getting more information about policing and the police service," Cooper told SASKTODAY.ca.
"This year was special because it is SPS’ 120th anniversary of being the police service in the city. We wanted a little bit of a celebration in our community where we gave away cookies with 120 written on them. Also, we shared and talked about [SPS’s] history."
He added that a recruiting booth was also set up where questions by those who are interested in entering the police force or asking about employment opportunities for civilians can be answered.
"In the past, they talked to the police officers to know more about what it would take to become an officer or a staff member. We have over 200 people working in our building who are not police officers. Other avenues contribute to public safety," said Cooper.
"Just to have some of our personnel [officers and civilian employees] to talk to people that might have an interest to work for SPS where they can share the information to people. We have a lot of young people who showed interest."
The SPS also offered guided tours to their headquarters, showing their fleet of marked and unmarked vehicles, the equipment used by police officers when they patrol the city, central dispatch and a portion of the forensics laboratory.
They also partnered with agencies like the Saskatoon Fire Department, the Saskatoon youth centre EGADZ and organizations that help the community’s most vulnerable members. SPS and the provincial government are also working on predictive analytics, where data is collected and analysed to create intervention strategies.
Cooper said that since the pandemic, the SPS had not offered any tour schedules but brought it back on Wednesday as part of their 120th anniversary and showed the people the city’s investment in keeping communities safe.
"The building we have here is state of the art. It is something to come and see. It [HQ] is not only for police operations but also a community building with a gymnasium. The community well supports us as the city’s police service," he added.
"We are not an external force applied to the community. We are members of the community. We and our families live here. We are interested in safety the same way everybody else is. If anyone has questions, they can talk to officers. Just see us as part of the community."
