On the second floor of a building where most offices have no doors, the ceilings are low and the carpets don’t match, the chief of Grande Prairie’s new police gets to work.

“Don’t focus on the building,” Dwayne Lakusta said in a recent interview.

The 51-year-old was chosen more than a year ago to head a new municipal police service in the city of 60,000 in northwestern Alberta, replacing the RCMP. It will be the first new force in Alberta in more than 60 years.

With three decades of experience, Lakusta has overseen the deployment of a small group of officers working with the local RCMP.

The Mounties remain in charge until the local force is fully installed in 2028.

Lakusta said he will take a new approach based on surveys and research conducted in other jurisdictions that call for police to be more responsive, particularly toward young people.

The result, he said, is a “non-traditional” policing model that will deploy mobile outreach workers alongside law enforcement officers.

“It’s a holistic approach to community safety and well-being,” Lakusta said. “If it’s a suicide call, we’ll send a mental health worker instead of an officer with a gun.”

SEE | Policing in Grande Prairie from the ground up:

Policing in Grande Prairie from the ground up

Chief Dwayne Lakusta of the Grande Prairie Police Service joins CBC’s Nancy Carlson to talk about building Alberta’s first municipal police force from the ground up since the late 1950s.

“Canada is watching”

Grande Prairie Mayor Jackie Clayton said the stakes are high.

“It’s an opportunity for us to do something unique,” Clayton said in an interview at town hall.

“I know a lot of Canada is watching this play out. (The service) will build sort of a model for other municipalities that are looking to make the transition.”

Count. Dylan Bressey said the idea came about in 2018.

“Discussions were being held in Alberta about a provincial police service,” he said.

Bressey said that while debating the idea, council realized that RCMP contracts across the country would expire in March 2032.

Clayton said council’s decision in 2023 to cancel the RCMP agreement was difficult but necessary.

“There’s an emotional attachment to the RCMP. It’s a symbolic piece of Canada, of its history, so change is difficult,” Clayton said. But he said the city was prepared for a service more tailored to local needs.

Chris Thiessen was the only council member to reject the vote.

“My first No vote was really just to delay and give our public a chance to be more part of the discussion,” Thiessen said in an interview.

And there’s the money.

“For us, for example, being able to do a cost analysis five years from now is complicated. We are only making approximate calculations.

“We have to do a good job of demonstrating that the services have a greater net benefit to the community and are worth the costs.”

A recent cost analysis by the city indicates there will be savings, particularly due to lower administrative fees.

Red Deer, Airdrie and Spruce Grove in Alberta, and at least one municipality in Nova Scotia, are watching closely as they consider making the transition.

Surrey, BC, is moving away from the RCMP, but the transition has been met with resistance as its council attempted to undo an earlier decision to create a new service.

Building trust

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke expressed concern about how much the transition was costing taxpayers. In July, a judicial review ruled that British Columbia has the authority to complete the RCMP’s transition to the local force.

Lakusta says starting a service from bases in Grande Prairie has so far been beneficial because “it doesn’t come with any baggage.”

“(The) only thing we can do,” he said, “is build trust.”