Patrick Nogier was sworn in as Chief of the Prince Albert Police Service on Nov. 29 by Justice Gary Meschishnick of the Court of Kings Bench in Nov. 2023. (Susan McNeil/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Police transparency

Prince Albert Police release use of force numbers as part of transparency plan

Feb 11, 2025 | 5:00 PM

In an effort to increase the amount of information flowing between the police service and the public and to build community trust, the Prince Albert Police has changed how it handles some information, such as use of force statistics.

Chief Patrick Nogier explained changes actually started at the beginning of 2024 by collecting as much information as possible in order to share statistics publicly.

“Because we represent the public, every time force is required that we want to be upfront about why force is required, the circumstances around it and whether or not any type of corrective activity was required,” he said.

Much of the dry work of collecting that information is done internally by a four-member panel that overviews every incident.

Officers need to be able to say why they made the decisions they did.

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“What type of force is being used, is it proportional, is it appropriate and can you articulate why it was required.”

A screenshot of the use of force incidents involving PA Police in 2024. (Prince Albert Police Commission Agenda)

Incidents are broken into four levels, with the first being the use of force was appropriate and complied with PAPS policy, Level II is the force was appropriate but less than fully compliant and coaching or training is provided.

In Level III, the use is not appropriate, but no criminal charges are laid and remedial or disciplinary action is taken. The fourth level categorizes the use of force as inappropriate and criminal charges are laid against the officer.

Of all 62 incidents in 2024, 49 were Level I, 12 were Level II and the final incident was Level III.

“It’s a very small percentage of the interactions that we have with the public that actually require force, which is encouraging. But when that force is required, you get a large spectrum; everything from pointing a firearm to a physical control technique,” Nogier said.

For context, in the same time span, officers responded to over 40,000 calls for service in the same time frame.

A screenshot of the use of force incidents involving PA Police in 2024. (Prince Albert Police Commission Agenda)

Before Nogier was hired as chief, the Prince Albert Police had several incidents, including one caught on cell phone video of the events leading to the death of Boden Umpherville in early 2023.

Umpherville died weeks after a confrontation with several police officers who were attempting to arrest him after he was seen violating his release conditions.

The investigation into the actions of officers conducting the arrest is being done by SIRT, as is required by law. It wasn’t the only SIRT investigation in Prince Albert and the overall numbers of issues resulted in a provincial review of the entire service.

Then-Chief Johnathan Bergen resigned and Nogier was hired from Saskatoon to take over the lead role.

He has made changes, with a key priority improving the dialogue and relationship between the public and officers who are expected to protect them.

While circumstances often dictate the response from officers, training and having different methods of enforcement are crucial.

“Policing is a very difficult industry, especially when force is required in some circumstances. We have a variety of tools that officers have to try and utilize to mitigate any type of security concern or threat to the community,” Nogier said.

Along with considering the public, the police must also consider the safety of their officers and the offender.

“The offender also gets a vote and ensuring that the amount of force that’s being used is proportional to what’s required to mitigate the risk to the community,” he explained.

As time and technology progress, where officers used to have a baton and a gun, they now also have Conducted Energy Weapons, pepper spray and now also have drones.

Now, some of the bigger decisions are how many items an officer can carry on their belt and then ensuring the officer is trained in how to pick the best tool in different situations.

“You know, our officers are trained very well and we know that use of force is one of the primary things that they’re trained on, but I want to recognize the fact that we’re always striving to do better. You know, we want to make sure that our officers are making good decisions in the right times and circumstances.”

“Our reporting mechanism is going to ensure that every time force is being used, officers are articulating their reasons for it, we’re reviewing it to make sure it’s appropriate and that way we can provide a message to the community that officers are well trained and only using force when required.”

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil.bsky.social