Innisfail RCMP Staff Sgt. Chris Matechuk was dealing with a lot of paperwork last week with his desk uncharacteristically stacked high with year-end reports.
But the good news is that Matechuk, the commander of the 17-member local detachment, finally has help at the top.
For the first time, the Innisfail RCMP has a supervisory sergeant to work directly under the commanding officer.
That new member is Sgt. Lori Eiler, a lifelong Albertan who comes to Innisfail to take a big chunk of the workload off the big shoulders of Matechuk. The 41-year-old Eiler, a 14-year RCMP veteran whose last posting was in Gleichen, will be in charge of detachment operations.
“She directly reports to me and her role will be anything operational related, first point of contact. I will still be involved but she is the first point of contact,” said Matechuk.
He said the new first-ever position at the detachment is a result of the Innisfail RCMP's growth over the past four years, which has included two additional regular members and one administrative support staff employee. Matechuk said the growth qualified the detachment to add another supervisory position, which has already happened at other regional detachments in Blackfalds Sylvan Lake and Rocky Mountain House.
“In this day and age our membership is becoming more junior, just like any industry and trades, so higher level of supervision is required. We don't have as many senior level constables working out there,” said Matechuk. “She's welcomed in her position to continue to enhance the supervision of all our members in our detachment, including admin support.”
Eiler said she's happy to be in Innisfail. She arrived in town with her husband Chris, an RCMP member in the Innisfail Integrated Traffic Unit, and two young children.
“Having lived all over the province we are quite familiar with Innisfail. It was a town I had my eye on, and I had a desire to move here,” said Eiler. “It's nice and central, and a great location, and the community is really nice. I find that small-town feel is what we are comfortable with, and my decision was to move to Innisfail. I did not want to move to Red Deer and commute. I wanted to be in the community that I was policing. That was really important to me.”
Her career in the RCMP followed one in health care. For close to five years she was a recreational therapist in Medicine Hat and Calgary, but she found herself wanting more in a career.
“I wanted something that was going to be a challenge, something that was going to be different, something that was going to push me out of my comfort zone a little bit and challenge me, and I felt law enforcement would do that for me,” she said.
Eiler's new head of operations role in Innisfail will also include a lot of paperwork, like shift scheduling and leave requests. But she will also handle larger and more complex investigations, high-risk files, setting goals for national and divisional priorities, as well as preparing annual performance plans and making sure the detachment has programs in place to achieve desired results.
“There's good police work here. They are busy. I find that exciting and I am happy to be a part of that,” said Eiler, whose goal as a citizen of Innisfail is to be involved in the community, as proven earlier in the month when her family participated in the Bowl For Kids fundraiser.
In the meantime, her arrival means there's a big load off those big shoulders of Matechuk.
“I would think so, but there is always other stuff,” said Matechuk with a chuckle. “When I am not around there will be somebody in charge.
“Quite often when I am on vacation, I am answering emails, still working through a vacation,” added the detachment commander. “At least now I will be able to leave for the weekend and not have to be working at the same time.”
Innisfail RCMP Sgt. Lori Eiler
"Having lived all over the province we are quite familiar with Innisfail. It was a town I had my eye on, and I had a desire to move here."
