Edmonton police chief wrong to publicize conflict with commission, former commissioner says

 Chief Rod Knecht should handle his disagreement with the Edmonton Police Commission in a more professional manner, says a former commissioner.

“These kinds of discussions should be happening behind closed doors,” said Murray Billett, who was a commissioner from 2005 to 2009.

Knecht told reporters on Tuesday that his relationship with the commission became “caustic” in 2017, because of a communication breakdown that led to trust issues. 

Billett said conflict is inherent to the relationship between the commission and a police service.

“Healthy conflict, if you don’t have it, you don’t have growth. So it’s how to manage conflict.”

The commission is mandated to make its decisions on behalf of the citizens and the chief must respect them, Billett said.

“No police leader likes to be told what to do,” he said. “It’s up to the commission to make that decision, and it’s not up to the chief.”

Former city councillor Michael Oshry shared a similar opinion on Twitter.

“Why is he doing this in public? The commission is his boss,” Oshry tweeted Tuesday. 

“It is totally inappropriate for the chief to be discussing his contract and the private commission meetings [publicly]. This is a serious breach,” he said in a later tweet. 

Billett urges the chief and commission to move forward from the controversy. 

“That’s in the best interest of everybody, including the citizens,” he said.

Source link