Six retired police officers have returned to work in a new unit of the Fredericton Police Force, including Stephen Horsman, former New Brunswick justice and public safety minister.
“I want to keep busy,” said the 63-year-old Horsman, who has done volunteering and supply teaching since his exit from politics in 2020. He previously worked as a Fredericton police officer for 25 years.
According to the police force, he was one of many retired officers who were interested in paid, full- and part-time positions with the new community engagement unit.
Being a police officer is kind of a calling, said Staff Sgt. Justin LeBlanc, who will oversee the group.
“They like to stay engaged. They like to help the community. That’s what they’ve done their entire careers.”
After an interview process, the other selected candidates were Andrea Sullivan, John Lally, Joan Crane, Andrew Miller and Ronnie Francis.
They stood out and have always been reliable and great with the public, LeBlanc said.
The new unit has some “wonderful people,” agreed Horsman, and they’ve been given a warm welcome.
The community engagement officers started Monday, after being sworn-in by a provincial court judge last week to make sure that they understood the rules about things like confidentiality and that they’re going to be good stewards of the police department, he said.
“Quite a lot has changed,” said Horsman, including the equipment that regular officers have to wear, such as body cameras.
But he doesn’t expect to be using any newfangled gear or that his experience at the top of the provincial public safety hierarchy will change the way he does policing.
Horsman, who retired from the police force in 2012, said that in both roles, he always tried to use a neighbourly approach.
“Just by talking to people … I think that’s how we can help our community and keep our community safer,” he said.
Horsman said he’s glad to be back at the department and to have an opportunity to help the community as well as front-line police officers. He hopes the unit will continue beyond the initial six-month pilot period.
The new unit was created to respond to concerns about crime and safety from the community and concerns about workload from police officers, LeBlanc said.
Because of staffing shortages and a high number of calls for service, regular officers have been spending all their time dealing with high priority items, he said, while other less urgent, but still important things, including traffic enforcement, have fallen by the wayside.
Many officers are feeling overwhelmed, as if they’re constantly having to react, LeBlanc said. They’d like to be more proactive, so the force is trying something innovative.
Community engagement officers will handle tasks such as taking statements for minor crimes, lost property calls and general public assistance — things that have waited too long in the queue for attention, he said.
They won’t carry guns or wear police uniforms, but they’ll wear shirts that identify them, and they’ll have a police radio in case they need to call for backup.
“We’re looking at simple theft complaints … some mischief calls … general public assistance … If somebody has a complaint and would like to speak to an officer and there’s no danger present, we can send one of these members there.”
With the new unit handling some of the workload, LeBlanc hopes Frederictonians will see more officers out and about in the community.
The City of Fredericton also introduced a community safety services unit in recent years to respond to public complaints about things such as panhandling and vandalism.
They can enforce some city bylaws, but they aren’t police officers or part of the police department, LeBlanc said.
Downtown Fredericton resident Rob Doyle, one of many people to go public last fall with frustrations over property crime and open drug use, called the new unit “a fantastic idea.”
“If they’re able to take the smaller calls and keep the regular force on patrol, that’s great,” he said.
Doyle thinks retired officers have a lot to offer.
“I think it’s better than hiring a secondary security service that can’t do a whole lot other than monitor somebody.”
A person who has 30 years of policing experience knows how to deal with someone who has lost their temper or is having a bad day, said Doyle, and will take the extra time needed to deal with something like that.
He plans to watch for signs of improvement once the weather warms and property crime typically picks up.
