One of four recommendations from the Saskatchewan coroner’s inquest into the death of Myles Sanderson was that the Saskatoon Police Service consider establishing a dedicated team tasked with arresting individuals who are subject to outstanding warrants.
This need for a warrant squad has been known for years before this inquest, yet the previous Police Chief never requested the necessary funding to allow for this in the police budget.
So now, the current Police Chief does not have the financial support to implement a dedicated warrant squad, but I would like to change that as soon as possible.
A warrant squad of 2 to 4 people would spend their days seeking out the ten most violent wanted criminals that are known to be within our city. Every time the most violent people are removed from our streets, this has a positive effect on overall public safety but also on those marginalized people that they prey on.
If we are actively pursuing these violent criminals, these individuals will have less ability to operate and this will help to limit their impact even before they are found and arrested. There has been too much effort to divest the Saskatoon Police Service away from Peel’s Principles of Policing.
I am very happy to see that the current police leadership is pushing back against these core beliefs. It would be a core belief of mine that we require a warrant squad immediately to start affecting positive change within our city. Recently, the Prince Albert Police Service executed a vast network of arrests using a warrant squad. While our own city continues to work hard to clean up our streets, adding this type of operation will further strengthen our ability to root out and remove criminals from our midst.