‘So happy:’ New Regina police chief excited for opportunity

Though Farooq Sheikh is still finishing his work in Alberta as that province’s chief of the sheriff’s service, he already has plans and ideas brewing for his new role as chief of the Regina Police Service.

The announcement of Sheikh’s hiring was made Tuesday by the Regina Board of Police Commissioners.

Sheikh was over the moon when he first heard he had got the job.

“I’m passionate about being a police officer, so when they told me I got the job, I was so happy I just wanted to tell everybody,” he said during a video media conference Wednesday.

Sheikh may come to Regina by way of Alberta, but he started his career in England.

In 1992, he started policing in Birmingham in the West Midlands and progressed through the ranks there while taking on a number of different teams like traffic, proactive policing, and organized criminal groups.

He spent a few years in Canada — first in Calgary, where he became a field trainer, and then in a smaller organization in B.C. Sheikh eventually went back to England for a few years, again progressing through the ranks in both Birmingham and London.

“In those ranks, I’ve done a lot of different stuff. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and I wanted to learn,” said Sheikh.

He also took the time to earn a master’s in criminology. He said before that education, he was policing in a reactive manner: Arrest someone and hope the court gave them an appropriate sentence. But he said the master’s degree helped him understand that officers have to be more proactive.

“It broadened my experience and I could link the theory into the operational delivery. I was able to reduce crime significantly and I also solved crime significantly, especially for key acquisitive crime such as robberies, residential burglaries and auto crime,” said Sheikh.

Eventually, Sheikh returned to Alberta and will soon be making the move to Regina.

Before getting the job as Regina’s top cop, Sheikh said he’d never considered the city before, but said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to go back to full policing. And when he looked into Regina, he found it was a good place for people to relocate to, it was affordable and it had a diverse population.

Sheikh is still a few weeks away from taking over the role officially, but he already has ideas.

“My goal as the chief is to make Regina the safest place and to make police the best police service, and I think they’re already on the way to doing that,” he said.

Sheikh said his job as police is to protect and serve, to reduce crime and disorder, to increase trust and to do a job that family and friends would be proud of.

He has a plan for his first 90 days on the job that includes meeting with all stakeholders, local leaders and big business. He said he wants to know what’s working, what’s not, and what can be changed. Sheikh also wants to create an inclusive workforce.

The new chief talked about collaboration and working together frequently when talking about what he has already been able to do and how he would tackle things in the future – including partnerships with other law enforcement.

“Sometimes we’re stronger when we work together just to see, ‘Is there anything that we can do to benefit all of us to keep all people in Saskatchewan safe and not just Regina?’ ” said Sheikh.

Sheikh takes over from Evan Bray, who retired as police chief in the summer. Sheikh’s first day is set for Dec. 1.