Troy Cooper is moving south.

Prince Albert’s police chief will soon be leaving the north-central Saskatchewan city to take over the top spot with the Saskatoon Police Service.

The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners announced him as the city’s new police chief Wednesday, a few months after former chief Clive Weighill retired.

“He is the candidate who will continue to motivate and engage our highly qualified Police Service while he concurrently engages with groups and residents throughout our city,” board chair Darlene Brander said in a news release. “We found the community leader we wanted.”

Cooper, who will be formally sworn in as Saskatoon’s police chief on Feb. 28, has been the Prince Albert Police Service’s chief since 2012. He served eight years as deputy chief before landing the Prince Albert chief job, and has also served as an inspector, staff sergeant, detective and constable with the Prince Albert force.

Policing challenges

Crime trends in Saskatoon and Prince Albert are similar, Cooper told media Wednesday. He spoke on a number of challenges for officers right now, including resources and training ahead of legalization of marijuana, an increase in mental health calls, and drugs and gangs driving crime.

“Our planning and our response to these things with limited resources must be strategic and focused on root cause,” he said. “That will mean focused enforcement on chronic offenders and those trafficking in addictive drugs like crystal meth and fentanyl.”

Indigenous relationships

When Clive Weighill announced his retirement in June, Indigenous elders on the chief’s advisory committee told CTV News it’s important the new chief continues to build relationships between police and Indigenous people.

According to Saskatoon Tribal Council Tribal Chief Mark Arcand, Wednesday’s announcement is “fantastic step.”

“I think the new police chief comes with a lot of experience dealing with First Nations people,” Arcand said.

Cooper is a member of the Big River Metis local but said because of his looks, he's gone through life as a white male. He said he rarely speaks about being Metis in public because it’s his experience as a police officer and person, not his status, that informs his perspective.

“There have been so many lived experiences of people who are Metis descent and Indigenous… that I haven't shared,” he said. “Growing up in the north and policing in Prince Albert has exposed me to culture, and I’ve taken advantage of that – I’ve participated in ceremonies, I've tried to understand and learn culture and been exposed to family connections to culture.”

Community engagement

Cooper gave credit to the existing staff at the Saskatoon Police Service and says he wants to build on what already exists —he’s not filling anyone’s shoes, but following in their footsteps, he says.

“The community right now trusts their former chief and I hope that I can overtime build that trust to that level as well,” he told reporters after the announcement.

Brander, the police board chair, said she was impressed in the first interview with Cooper with his ability to connect with people and the community. Mayor Charlie Clark said his approach to leadership and way of adapting to change put him above other candidates.

“What Chief Cooper brought is the aptitude and the personality and the approach,” Clark said.

Cooper holds a master’s of business administration in law enforcement and security from Charles Sturt University and a bachelor’s of professional arts in criminal justice from Athabasca University, and has won several awards for his police work.

The Saskatoon police board began searching for a new chief in June, when Weighill announced his plans to retire. It wouldn’t say Wednesday how many applications it received, but noted both internal and external candidates, some from across Canada, applied.

Weighill served as Saskatoon police chief for 11 years.