Legislation tabled in Alberta Thursday could make sweeping changes in the province’s policing, including the creation of an independent agency to handle complaints against police.
The Police Amendment Act is a broad effort to make the first major changes to the province’s Police Act since the 1980s.
It would allow Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis to set provincial policing priorities. This legislation is not, however, related to a separate mandate to create a provincial police force, Ellis said. That mandate came from Premier Danielle Smith, and it would replace the RCMP presence in rural Alberta with a provincial force….