TPS Chief asking for full participation in policing survey

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

 The Taber Police Service is asking residents to complete a policing standards survey that will help guide its strategic priorities for the next five years. The survey is open until Dec. 20.

 “We’re looking to determine satisfaction levels in relation to the policing services that we perform,” TPS Chief Graham Abela told the Times. “We’re also interested in understanding what people think the policing priorities around crime should be.”

 The police service and commission want to know what type of crimes impact people the most and where it should focus its resources. The survey also asks for feedback about the professionalism of the organization, its officers, the Community Standards Unit, dispatch, and the 911 communication center.

 Abela said it’s basically a satisfaction survey that also allows people to describe how safe they feel in the community. The perceptions and opinions of residents will be used as a key resource in strategic planning for 2026 and beyond. In an effort to gather a comprehensive data set, TPS has made the survey as accessible and easy to complete as possible.

 “We decided to do a mail out to all residences within the town,” Abela said. “This is a household survey, and I think there were about 2,300 postcards that were sent to different mailing addresses in town. Our hopes are that people will use the QR code that’s on there and complete a survey. If they can’t or don’t want to use the QR code, there’s also an email address that they can just send us a quick note to and we’ll send them a link.”

  There’s a third option if residents don’t want to use either of the first two. They can call TPS, which has partnered with the Taber girls rugby team, who will send team members to the residence to hand deliver a paper copy and even fill out the survey with the individual.

 “We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for the largest number of households to access the survey,” Abela said about his hope that one person from every household will participate. “If we can get 2,300 responses, that’d be great.”

 TPS recently held three focus groups, and a focus view report has now been released to the police commission and town council. He plans to release it publicly once it’s reviewed by those bodies.