Alberta peace officers, police to coordinate efforts fighting fentanyl trafficking

Alberta says 800 peace officers will fall under the leadership of local police to crack down on crime and drug use. CTV News Edmonton's Chelan Skulski reports.

More than 800 peace officers from 34 Alberta communities will work with local police to combat social disorder stemming from the use of illicit drugs, the provincial government announced Wednesday alongside mayors and law-enforcement officials.

The announcement comes after threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has promised to impose tariffs on products from Canada unless the northern neighbour takes more action to curb fentanyl trafficking across the border.

Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said Wednesday a “law enforcement presence will make a difference.”

“Officer presence matters, and this will make a significant difference in the fight against social disorder and open-air drug use,” Ellis said during a news conference Wednesday at downtown Edmonton police headquarters.

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Operational command of the province’s 806 peace officers in the fight against fentanyl trafficking will go under police leadership, the province said.

Trump has been vowing to place 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports, with a lower 10-per-cent charge on energy.

He has been airing the demands on products from Canada, Mexico and China since November, shortly after he won the American presidential election.

Since he took office in late January, Trump has repeatedly insisted the tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods are still coming but has delayed them several times, his latest delay Wednesday pushing the start date to April 2 from March 4.

Trump had initially pledged to implement the levies on Jan. 20, his first day in office, unless Canada agreed to introduce new security measures at the border.

The president, who initially tied the Canadian and Mexican duties to the flow of deadly fentanyl, said the pause would allow time to reach a “final economic deal.”

Most of the officials gathered for Wednesday’s announcement -- including Ellis, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, interim Edmonton police Chief Warren Driechel and Alberta Municipalities President Tyler Gandam -- said police and peace officers have been coordinating similar efforts for years.

Gandam offered an example in Red Deer, where the officers have been coordinating work on downtown patrols since 2022.

“We want to give the confidence to our trading partners that we’re taking national and provincial security seriously through swift and immediate actions,” Gandam said.

“More importantly, however, we need to show our own communities that we take these issues seriously and will stop at nothing … to address an issue that impacts everyone.”

The province said it will monitor the initiative’s effectiveness “to ensure the best path forward.”

Driechel said Edmonton police and peace officers have been working together “very closely ... for years” patrolling the city’s transit and public spaces.

He said the new push will “give us the ability to coordinate our deployment a little better, have our members -- whether it’s peace officers or police officers -- much more visible in those public spaces, be them in our downtown core (and) others where there’s disorder.”

Ellis said the crisis demands immediate action and that having a unified command ensures a co-ordinated team response to combat the illicit drug trade.

“I think it provides a strategic plan, an efficiency to make sure that we’re dealing with any social and civil disorder problem in an effective way,” he said.

With files from The Canadian Press