The Olds RCMP has introduced Staff Sergeant Jamie Day as Acting Detachment Commander.
Day has been in Olds for just under two months and says the leadership takeover has been smooth, thanks in large part to high morale and “very good” detachment culture.
“It’s been amazing, the culture at the detachment has been very good – high morale, the community itself has been very welcoming to me, I’m happy to be out there,” he says.
The Staff Sergeant boasts a lengthy policing career, spanning 19 years, and says community policing and crime prevention have jumped out as two key priorities that could prove to be quite beneficial for the town.
“I’m very big on community policing and also crime prevention as well, I think they go hand-in-hand and I think it’s important for our community members to know who our officers are, so expect to see us out there, involved in a lot of community events,” he says.
Day says community policing is all about engagement. He says whether it’s seniors or young people, maintaining a positive relationship with the RCMP is critical in protecting the town’s vulnerable sector.
“It’s youth engagement, it’s engagement with the seniors, the vulnerable sector, making sure they’re aware of certain types of frauds out there, how we can combat that and help them protect their assets – we think that’s very, very important and we want to be more engaged in that,” he says. “The biggest thing is just the connection, the trust, the transparency, and the communication with our public and our communities, we feel that’s so important.”
“In a way, I think we’re trying to go back to the old way we do business, I’ve been policing for 19 years and I find we’ve kinda gotten away from that a bit, and I think it’s important to go back to our older roots, which we’ve seen a very positive outcome by doing that in the last few years.”
Outside of engagement, Day says crime prevention as a whole is a major goal under his leadership, especially when it comes to rural policing, so ensuring the detachment’s staffing levels are adequate will be a top priority going forward.
“Making sure our staffing levels are full, making sure to keep the morale positive, and the engagement with our community,” he says. “The big focus is obviously crime prevention – we do have a member that’s in the position of Rural Crime, he’s doing an absolutely amazing job, I’ve only been here for a few weeks, but just in the short term, the members are doing an amazing job.”
Staff Sergeant Day’s appointment replaces former Detachment Commander Staff Sergeant Warren Wright who served in the position for four years.
