Saskatoon Police Service

Police services in Saskatoon date back to 1882, when the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) began to serve there. In 1889 Saskatoon hired its first full-time police officer; but the NWMP continued to serve the city as well until 1910, when the Saskatoon Police Department was created. By this time the force had grown to include a chief, a deputy chief, two sergeants, five constables, and a detective; and by 1919, the police service in Saskatoon had grown to twenty-two members. The building of police headquarters in 1930 and the addition of a radio system to the Saskatoon Police Department in 1940 were significant milestones, and in 1970 the force consisted of 207 members. The first female officers were hired in 1973; and in 1979 community policing was introduced in order to facilitate a more positive relationship between the police service and the public by, among other things, assigning officers to a given district for at least a year - thereby allowing officers to become familiar with the people and the problems of the area. In 1992, the Saskatoon Police Department was renamed the Saskatoon Police Service. It has since then introduced a number of important programs to improve policing in the city, such as the Bicycle Detail and community mail-in reports; it has also instituted an Aboriginal Liaison and a Community School Liaison. In 2003, the force consisted of 355 members, with approximately 215 additional special constables, volunteers, and civilians. Sixteen Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a number of integrated units are also involved in the operations of the Saskatoon Police Service.

Melanie Neuhofer