Edmonton police chief pledges 'a hard run at violence' in 2024

If the mayor wants to see results in exchange for the city's 2023 investments in policing, he'll have to be patient, says Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee.

In a year-end interview with CBC News, McFee addressed the wide-ranging safety issues the city is facing — from downtown social disorder to high-level organized crime — and shared his strategy for tackling them.

Earlier this year, city council approved more money for police under a funding formula that will be in effect for the next three years — the Edmonton Police Service gets an annual base budget that gets adjusted for inflation and population growth.

For 2024, EPS will get $437.4 million, making it the biggest expenditure in the city's operating budget. In his own year-end interview, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi says he's expecting safer streets in 2024 in return for the investment. 

But McFee says EPS is still rebuilding its capacity.

"When he says he's hoping for results, I think he needs to realize though, those results were delayed for two years because of budget cuts. It takes time to get those people back in place. That's what we're working on," McFee said.

EPS saw about $22 million cut from its budget between 2021 and 2023, following city council votes to redirect those funds to other programs, such as social services, transit and affordable housing.

Despite receiving less money than expected, EPS's overall budget has continued to increase every year. 

In August 2022, council also approved an extra $10.3 million to pay for police constables and equipment as part of a community safety initiative in Chinatown.

McFee says they are getting results in places where investments have been made, such as in Chinatown and on transit.

Still, two recent assaults around Coliseum LRT station have once again raised questions about public safety, as have shootings and gun sightings at shopping malls this year.

McFee acknowledges that Edmonton is experiencing a lot of violence, notably gun violence, much of which he says is driven by a mix of factors such as the drug trade, organized crime and gangs, and methamphetamine use.

Two victims of gun violence were EPS Const.Travis Jordan and Const. Brett Ryan. The officers were fatally shot in March by 16-year-old Roman Shewchuk, who then also shot and killed himself. 

McFee says the memory of going to the hospital and meeting with the constables' families, and other officers who tried to save them, have stuck with him.

"It was a tough day. But our officers certainly have been resilient. 'Lean in, lean on, look after each other' became our motto," he said.

A 19-year-old who police allege trafficked a gun to Shewchuk has since been arrested and charged with three counts of manslaughter and a slew of other charges.

As of Dec. 11, EPS said it had investigated or was still investigating 36 confirmed homicides — 22 of which involved guns.

On Nov. 9, an 11-year-old boy was intentionally shot and killed in a south Edmonton parking lot, along with his father, who police say was entangled with gangs and criminal organizations.

The investigation into that double homicide is ongoing. These kinds of homicides are more difficult to solve, McFee said, because there's often involvement from people from outside of Edmonton or even Alberta. 

"It's something that we work very diligently with our partners and other agencies because these types of people are generally known to police," he said. 

McFee says gang violence investigations are resource-intensive. In an effort to keep up, EPS recently launched a second gang suppression team, and is looking at creating a non-fatal shooting investigation team, which he says other jurisdictions are finding helpful when it comes to gun crimes. 

McFee has also been an outspoken critic of existing bail policies, and believes some violent incidents — such as the stabbing deaths of a mother and child in a school parking lot — might have been avoidable with tougher release rules. 

With the new funding formula in place, McFee said he looks forward to taking "a real hard run at violence" in 2024. But EPS ended 2023 by coming under scrutiny for its dealings with homeless encampments and the deaths of two people who were shot by police.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating the deaths of a man and a woman who were both shocked with stun guns and shot by police, days apart, in early December.

McFee wouldn't comment on either fatality, noting both remain under investigation, but says that EPS responds to about 18,000 wellness check calls a year and that about 0.02 per cent end in a death.

He agrees that wellness checks should never end in a fatality.

"It's just that one is too many, right? And so we always want to be better. But also you've got to think of the circumstances that officer is facing in that particular event, because it's not always as black and white as some people like to think when they're reporting it on social media," he said.

He added that the police and crisis response team, which pairs police with mental health therapists, has been "extremely busy", and that the province has offered up funding to hire more staff.

Earlier this month, EPS also found itself in court, facing a challenge to a plan to tear down a number of homeless encampments in central Edmonton during the week before Christmas.

Lawyers for EPS, the city and a group advocating for people who live in camps ultimately agreed to a number of conditions that would slow down the camp removals, but allow police to proceed. 

McFee doesn't think EPS made any missteps in coming up with the original plan, despite public outcry and criticism from a number of social agencies that often work in partnership with police. 

McFee argues that while removals aren't a perfect process, the camps are simply unsafe and that it's important to try to get people indoors.

"I don't think it's as broken as people think it is, but it needs a different approach and some tweaking. So we're still committed to do that," he said.