Red Deer’s Annual Policing Plan

Red Deer’s Annual Policing Plan, or APP, is developed by Red Deer RCMP and The City of Red Deer, with final approval by City Council. The plan outlines the top priorities to be addressed by policing strategies over the specified time period.

The APP is typically a two-year plan, running from April 1 to March 31 of each year. In developing each APP, The City and RCMP together conduct public consultation to understand community concerns and priorities as they relate to crime and safety. The APP is developed using real crime data and public feedback to understand community priorities and areas of focus. RCMP work in consultation with City Council to determine top policing priorities for our community over two-year periods.

2022-2024 APP

The City and Red Deer RCMP worked together to finalize Red Deer’s 2022-2024 Annual Policing Plan, which was formally adopted by City Council on June 20, 2022. The 2022-2024 APP outlines priorities as follows:

Priority #1 - Police Response and Visibility

The goals within Police Response and Visibility strive to enhance our response to mental health calls and our visibility in the community through stronger working partnerships, trauma training for members, increasing specialized unit resources (PACT, DPU, Traffic), proactive patrols in key community areas (such as trails and downtown) and an enhanced community education and communication strategy.

This priority includes goals to enhance response to mental health, provide enhanced community education and communications, to increase feelings of safety in the downtown and trail systems and to improve road safety.

Priority #2 - Crime Reduction

During APP Consultations, one of the community’s greatest concerns was the amount of property crime occurring in Red Deer. There are many ways in which Red Deer RCMP plan to reduce crime in the next two years, including strategic, data-driven approaches, enhanced investigational techniques, increased crime prevention initiatives and improved member training.

This priority includes goals to reduce all types of property crime, develop crime prevention initiatives and a focus on member training and development.

Priority #3 -Engaged Community Partners

Community safety requires full participation of the community. Red Deer RCMP will work to identify both internal and external opportunities and strategies to provide greater outcomes for every Red Deerian.

This priority includes goals to develop a diversity and inclusion strategy for the detachment, increase youth diversion and improve relationships with justice partners.

Read the full 2022-2024 Annual Policing Plan report (pdf).

Public consultation

The City and Red Deer RCMP engaged members of the public and staff to understand experiences and concerns relating to community safety, which help identify areas of focus for policing priorities. In February 2022, a public survey and series of targeted focus group sessions were held to collect public feedback. As part of the engagement process, we committed to sharing a report summarizing what we heard during public consultations: 2022-2024 APP Public Consultation: What We Heard Report (pdf).

2020-2022 APP

The 2020-2022 APP outlined three priorities, including crime reduction (property and drugs), public safety (dynamic enforcement), and community relations (responsive and visible).

From October 2019 to October 2021, Red Deer saw a 59 per cent reduction in drug crime and a 43 per cent reduction in property crime. In addition, strategic proactive policing and crime reduction efforts saw positive improvements in our local crime statistics. Read the full 2020 - 2022 Annual Policing Plan results (pdf).