EDMONTON - Edmonton's new police chief has a tough job.
When Rod Knecht took over the reins of the police force last week, he also took on the highest homicide numbers in the country.
The former RCMP senior deputy commissioner, accustomed to a heavy and challenging workload, isn't scared by the statistics. And he said the public shouldn't be either.
Sitting in his new office, Knecht said other numbers actually show the Alberta capital is a safe place to live. Violent crime in the city is down five per cent, property crime has dipped 25 per cent and overall crime has dropped 20 per cent compared to last year.
"Edmonton's a safe city," said Knecht. "Things are good. We just have this abnormal homicide rate."
The city has recorded 25 killings so far this year, compared to 23 in Toronto and just two in Calgary. In all of 2010, there were 27 homicides in Edmonton.
Knecht said there's no clear cause or pattern in this year's homicide list, a mix of alcohol and drug-fuelled fights, domestic deaths and even a pair of killings behind bars.
If the homicide spike was related to a rash of gang or organized crime killings, then police would be better able to battle the problem, said the chief.
"It's a little bit of this and a little bit of that, so it makes it very difficult for us to sort of have that concentrated focus," he said. "There's not one clear solution to moving forward."
Knecht said he has searched across North America for other communities combating the same, abnormal homicide spike. One city in Florida has the same issue.
Knecht said his battle plan for Edmonton involves some reorganization. He is temporarily moving a dozen investigators and four forensic officers to the serious crime unit to aid the 17-member homicide squad, which has only been able to solve half of its cases.
He has also asked the RCMP and Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team to help out when they can.
Finally, he is reaching out to the community.
"Somebody out there right now knows who committed these crimes. And we're looking for a phone call or any assistance we can get from those people to help us so we can get these people, bad folks, off the street immediately."
When working as the RCMP's second-in-command, Knecht said he found himself isolated from the front-line and is glad that he is now able to reach out and talk to people.
A Mountie for 34 years, Knecht spent five years as the officer in charge of the Krever Commission that looked into the tainted blood scandal. He also testified at the fatality inquiry into the 2005 shooting deaths of four officers near Mayerthorpe.
While his blue uniform pants now have a yellow stripe down the side instead of Mountie-red, Knecht said "what's behind the uniform is the same."
He might be referring to determination.
"One homicide is too many," he said. "It's my goal... to make Edmonton the safest city in Canada."
