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None of the first class of 10 graduates for the Saskatchewan Marshals Service are new to graduation, and none are new to policing.
As the Marshals Service – newly formed and almost ready to put boots on the ground – prepares to start the work of actual policing, Chief Rob Cameron said it was a historic moment as 10 veteran officers swore new oaths to a new service.
“(It’s) a very exciting day. Seeing our first class of marshal graduates and do their swearing-in ceremony and particularly with their families and all these folks present, that support is tremendous,” said Cameron.
“It’s a very, very positive day for us, and we look forward to the work ahead.”
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The provincial government decided in 2022 that it would create a new police service, whose job will be to help other services, such as the RCMP and municipal forces, when it comes to complex investigations, warrant enforcement and rural crimes like chemical or cattle theft from farms.
Its main office is in Prince Albert, and Thursday’s graduation ceremony was held there. Members of the Prince Albert police and the RCMP were on hand.
“Recruitment has been good,” said Cameron adding that the police force continues to see interest from new or already serving officers across Canada.
One of those officers is marshal Noah Greene, who moved from Coquitlam, B.C. and a posting in the Lower Mainland with the RCMP. He has also spent time with the Surrey Police.
Saskatchewan was on his radar already, because his younger brother was playing university football here and Greene said he was impressed by what he saw.
“It was such a beautiful province, and everyone was super friendly and nice,” he said, as a first impression after helping his brother move. A friend sent him some information about the marshals’ recruitment drive, so he talked to some of the management and decided to go for it.
“After spending most of my career on the front line, to get the opportunity to go and make a significant difference in the province, it was just something I couldn’t turn down,” said Greene.
He said he isn’t too worried about the range of issues he’ll be working on, ranging from gang activity in cities like Prince Albert to the possibility of investigating fertilizer thefts.
“I think at the beginning the huge focus is on just making communities as safe as they can (be). So for one community, it may be cattle theft, where that is just such a huge thing that they have going on that that’s what they need to be dealt with,” he said.
While Greene is from B.C., another new marshal came from the Ontario Provincial Police, and some were former members of P.A. police or the RCMP.
Cameron said the next class to graduate will be a recruit class that will start in July, and the marshals still plan to have 50 officers working by the end of the year. The maximum they can hire is 70.
The first sub-office for the marshals service has been will open in North Battleford, but after that negotiations are still ongoing. The plan is to have suboffices spread at strategic points around the province, with the main base in Prince Albert.
Cameron has expressed confidence all along that he could find good, highly qualified veteran officers to start the service off, lured by the promise of more complex investigations.
According to members of the graduating class from Thursday, that confidence was justified.
“This is the right group, and this is the right group to carry this front-line organization forward,” said Josh Peterson, one of the two valedictorians in the class.
“One unique thing that we have, apart from the other police services that we all worked at, is we have the ability to set the tone. We can set the expectations of what we want the organization to be. As front-line members, we will exhibit that example every day.”
A bump or two has happened along the road, including an issue that left two staff members under investigation, but overall, the first group of graduates is feeling strong.
