Province’s police training program presents risk, opportunity for Brandon

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/04/2023 (918 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Could this be yet another case of government trying to fix what isn’t broken? Or, is this yet another example of those living inside Winnipeg’s Perimeter Highway failing to acknowledge and respect the great work being done here in Brandon?

Or could this be another instance of Brandon not being vocal enough about that great work and the many dedicated and skilled Brandonites who do it?

Last November, the Manitoba government announced it had hired former Winnipeg police chief Devon Clunis to develop new public safety training across Manitoba. It said Clunis will lead a committee that will work with communities and police forces on a new system for training police officers.

Last week, Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen announced the province has established a 17-person police training strategy steering committee composed of representatives from municipal, First Nations and provincial police agencies, as well as provincial employees and educators. Brandon Police Service Chief Wayne Balcaen is a member of the committee.

The committee will be co-chaired by Clunis and Ron Evans, who is the former grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and former chief of Norway House Cree Nation.

In his remarks last week, Goertzen said: “Currently, we don’t have provincewide consistency when it comes to training.” He believes that “Consistent training and a common curriculum will ensure officers are prepared for all those things they’re going to meet.”

Clunis added: “I have no doubt that what we are about to do in this province — trust me — will actually set the standard right across the country, will impact policing globally.”

Goertzen is correct that standardized training for all police in Manitoba will make everyone safer, including police officers. Conspicuously absent from both announcements, however, was any mention of the fact that Brandon’s Assiniboine Community College has successfully trained hundreds of current and future police officers over the past several years.

According to ACC’s academic calendar, its public safety program is a first of its kind in Manitoba and is offered in partnership with the Brandon Police Service. ACC is the only post-secondary institution in Manitoba to offer a public safety program administered by the department of education and training and authorized by Manitoba Justice.

Graduates from the ACC program are serving as police officers here in Brandon, and with many other police services and agencies throughout Canada.

Clunis wants a training program that will “set the standard right across the country,” but ACC has already been doing that for more than a decade. That’s a point committee members Balcaen and former Winnipeg police chief Jack Ewatski — who also serves as the chairman of ACC’s public safety program — should be reminding their peers of.

That’s because the stakes are higher than many realize.

Last week’s announcement creates both a risk and an opportunity for ACC and Brandon. The risk is that the new training program will replace ACC’s public safety program and, for reasons of economic efficiency and provincewide scale, will be located in or near Winnipeg. Such an outcome would likely cost jobs at ACC and hurt our economy.

On the other hand, making ACC the home of the new training program would create the opportunity for its public safety program to grow and evolve into a national, if not global, leader in police training.

Combine that with Brandon University’s applied disaster management and emergency studies program, and the Manitoba Emergency Services College (which is governed by the Office of the Fire Commissioner and offers educational programs for current or potential firefighters and paramedics), and there is tangible opportunity for Brandon to become a global leader in public safety training and innovation. Such a co-ordinated outcome would bring high-paying jobs to Brandon, grow our economy and enhance our international profile.

It’s a transformative opportunity that’s worth fighting for. Let’s hope that Balcaen, Ewatski, our mayor and our MLAs see the tremendous benefits the new police training program could deliver, and that they are prepared to push hard for the program to be located here in Brandon.