The City of Grande Prairie is inviting residents to provide feedback on which policing services are most valuable to the community through a survey and public open house.

The public engagement comes as the City assesses if transitioning to a municipal police service is a good solution for policing in Grande Prairie.

To ensure a fair and transparent assessment, the City has contracted MNP to execute a community engagement and detailed transition plan for the establishment of a municipal police service as directed by City Council at the September 28, 2022 Special Council meeting.

“Hearing from Grande Prairie residents on their expectations for policing in the community is critical for City Council to make a well-informed assessment on transitioning to a municipal police force,” says Jackie Clayton, Grande Prairie Mayor. “It is important that residents participate in the survey and open house so that we can hear your thoughts and consider them alongside other data that will be presented to City Council in 2023.”

The community engagement provides an in-depth analysis on the public’s perspective to help inform Council’s decision for potentially transitioning to a municipal police service.

The consultation includes an online survey, public open house for residents, interviews, focus groups and stakeholder meetings. Through this process, participants can share their feedback on what they would like to see in a modern municipal police service and how it can effectively serve our community.

The survey is open from December 6 to 23 and can be completed online at engage.cityofgp.com/municipalpolice.

The public open house is free for all members of the community to attend and share their feedback. More details on the open house such as date, time, and location will be announced in January 2023.

All feedback from the survey and open house will be presented to Council in early 2023. For more information, please visit engage.cityofgp.com/municipalpolice.