OLDS — Nearly six months after becoming a community resources officer for the town, Cst. Mitch Price says he’s already making a difference.
His responsibilities include working on crime reduction, community engagement, police visibility and traffic initiatives as well as domestic violence and mental health programming.
Price, who has been with RCMP for about 12 years and in the Olds detachment for roughly four years, applied for and obtained the post in early March.
In an email, Price said since then, during the school year, he made daily appearances at schools in Olds to participate in classes, eat lunch with students and “build positive relationships with our youth.”
He gave 26 presentations to schools on a variety of subjects, such as the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), cellphone/driver safety, consent and laws around distributing intimate images.
Price also participated in 10 community events such as a domestic violence conference, a leadership conference, school field trips, graduation ceremonies and community events held by the town.
He also participated in three joint operations with the town’s peace officers to enforce traffic and educate people on new traffic laws in the community.
“The response so far has been fantastic and I look forward to seeing what I can accomplish as it continues over the coming years,” he wrote.
During an interview with the Albertan, Price, 35, a father of three, said he wanted to take on the position because he loves working with youth (including his own kids), coaching baseball and hockey.
Also, he saw it as a change from day-to-day general policing.
“Typically when the police are involved with people it’s usually not a good situation,” Price said.
"This is an opportunity for me to be out and it not be a negative thing – it be a positive interaction, whether it’s jumping in and playing gym class with them or doing a presentation in the school.
“I think the most important part of it is that they get to know me as not just as a police officer, but as a person.”
To that end, Price asks school teachers and administrators as well as all those he meets to just call him Mitch, rather than formally as Cst. Price.
“I’m just a person. Just because I wear a uniform (that) doesn’t change the fact that I’m just another person in the school,” he said.
"That's the relationship that I want to build with all these students, is (when) they see me, I’m just someone that they’re comfortable (with) being there and they can say, ‘hey Mitch,’ or ‘how’s it going today?’
"We can have those conversations just like a normal person would, rather than them always feeling like they have to act a certain way because there’s a uniform around.”
Price was asked if the post was created as a result of crime stats.
“I don’t know if there’s been an increase statistically, but the climate around policing in general right now, you know, we all watch the news and generally what you see out there is negative,” he said.
“A lot of it can tend to be Americanized, but we all watch TV and kids are part of that. So we don’t want just what the news puts out there to be what they attribute to a police officer.”
Although there’s been a focus on youth, Price said his job is also to present a positive image to all segments of the population, including people from countries where people may be wary of police.
“I don’t know that I’ve come across a distrustful relationship, but I think I’d say in different countries, police and citizens’ relationships definitely differ than they do in Canada,” he said.
“Maybe they don’t have that comfort yet of seeing police around. So I don’t know that it’s really stood out any more than anyone else in the community, but I think it’s a big part of why I’m in there doing what I am.
"Regardless of race or where you come from, the goal is to have you comfortable with the police being around, right?”
Price was born and raised in Fredericton, N.B. He played hockey there all the way through junior and in university, before moving to Lake Louise. He then joined the Mounties, graduating in 2011.
Price was posted to High Prairie and worked there for eight years before transferring to Olds.
The community resource officer position is paid for by the town.
