The village of Boyle has moved out, the Sheriffs are moving up and the RCMP will be moving in.
Those are the general logistics of the changes being made at the old village office, since the municipality officially moved out on Feb. 15, setting up shop in the basement of the community centre next door.
The Alberta Sheriffs have renewed their lease and they will now be moving to the main floor, and RCMP members will be joining them to work side-by-side in a newly renovated Integrated Traffic Unit office.
ìIn other units, they already have the integrated units working together, but we just couldnít house everybody here in the detachment,î said Boyle RCMP Detachment Commander Sgt. Kevin McGillivray.
The Sheriffs have operated out of the existing village office basement since 2008, and the Boyle Integrated Traffic Unit has been in operation since April 1, 2010, but this will be the first time the RCMP will be working side-by-side with them.
The role of the Alberta Sheriffs is primarily ìenforcement drivenî according to Traffic Sgt. Mark Handley of the Boyle Integrated Traffic Unit. Sheriffs still run on the RCMP radio system and have the authority to make arrests, but the Sheriffsí standard role is to ìkeep the traffic flowing at a safe speed,î said the traffic sergeant.
Under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, there has to be a reason for a traffic stop.
ìNinety-five per cent of (drivers) we stop are speeders,î said Handley.
ìWeíre ramping up the manpower, because Highway 63 is pretty treacherous,î said Handley, suggesting that what makes ìroad conditionsî dangerous are the dangerous drivers that travel them.
Until now, there were four Sheriffs and one sergeant operating out of the village office basement. With the additional staff in the newly forming Integrated Traffic Unit office, there will be eight Sheriff constables, eight RCMP constables, and two non-commissioned sergeants in each respective capacity.
The integrated staff, said Handley, will increase response time due to a near instantaneous communication between his Sheriffs and the RCMP members, since they will be working out of the same quarters.
ìWeíve been really lucky since I landed here. The working relationship with (the RCMP) has been phenomenal,î he said.
Handley, a retired Edmonton Police officer who has served as an Alberta Sheriff in Boyle for the past four years, said some of the staff will occupy 10 workstations in the existing council chambers, a space McGillivray referred to as the ìbullpen.î At a later stage, the downstairs will also be renovated and a workout area and men and womenís locker rooms will be installed. This will be a welcome addition to the facility, said Handley.
ìThatís not something we had,î said Handley. ìRight now, if I go for a run, itís from home, so I can go back home. Itíd be kind of nice to be able to leave here and go for a run, and go for a workout, and if something happens you donít have to go home to shower. (Just come back), grab a shower and go to work.î
ìCertainly, we support the health and wellness of our members and anything we can do to provide them with equipment to maintain their fitness level, we fully support that,î said McGillivray, who said renovations are expected to last a number of months.
