Atkinson made mark with BPS

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/08/2012 (5055 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When he hangs up his hat in January, we will say farewell to retiring Brandon police Chief Keith Atkinson with respect.

Although there were rumours, Atkinson made his decision official at Monday night’s city council meeting.

The chief oversaw a number of major changes in Brandon during his six years at the force’s helm. Chief among them (pardon the pun) has to be the long-overdue move into their new building.

Although Atkinson will have barely warmed the new office chair he’ll pass on to his successor, whoever is picked to take over the “top cop” job will inherit a police force dramatically different from the one Atkinson took over in 2007.

By far the most noticeable, of course, is that brand-spanking-new building. Although built around the shell of a former grocery store, the new police station is a fully modern structure, and should be a fine home for the Brandon Police Service for years to come. Atkinson should be proud that he was the chief who shepherded the force’s move into this station — a white whale that thwarted and eluded chiefs before him.

One of the other big changes during the Atkinson years has been the introduction of statistics-based policing, or CompStat, which allows police to track crime trends, rather than just individual crimes.

In other cities, CompStat has been credited with ushering in revolutionary crime declines. We’re not sure it’s quite reached that potential here, yet, but we expect the new strategy to continue to pay dividends long into the future.

While obviously we’re not privy to detailed crime-fighting strategies, we’re sure CompStat has proven its worth as Brandon police tackle ongoing issues in our city.

This is a good time to point out, too, that anyone with a computer can access some of that raw data, plotted on a map of Brandon, at CrimeReports.com. Although imperfect and frustratingly vague, opening up those numbers for public consumption may, long-term, prove to be the most influential legacy that Atkinson leaves.

Other changes to the force have been wrought by demographics.

In the past five years, the city’s population has boomed — particularly through immigration.

These newcomers have brought to Brandon a welcome dose of multicultural flair, but they also bring language barriers and different cultural expectations, which can be a policing challenge.

Although Brandon’s police force is a little less white and a little less male than it used to be, there are still strides to be made in this area. Thankfully, Brandon’s new police chief — whomever he or she turns out to be —will have the blessing of a large, new building staffed with a strong, modern police force to lean on.

He or she will be able to thank Chief Atkinson for turning over the keys of a department in good shape.

Although police officers and journalists don’t always see eye to eye, we’ll recall Atkinson as a media-friendly chief. We wish him the best in his last few months on the job and into his retirement.