Building relationships with the chiefs and councils of the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation is a top priority for the recently appointed Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service chief of police.
"There was a time when relationships were lost with police and the communities," said Claude Chum, shortly after command of the police service was officially transferred to him Friday at Fort William Historical Park.
Outgoing chief Robin Jones spent the last 15 months working to rebuild those relationships and Chum said he has to continue her work in order to achieve community-based policing.
"That’s my goal, to make that a reality," he said. "Most of the problems are not policing problems but community problems and our police have to work with community leaders."
Chum said they have to identify the issues that are causing social disorder and come up with solutions to fix the problems.
One of the top issues is officer safety. Chum said if an officers slips on the ice and hurts his or herself, they have no backup to help or even a radio to call for backup.
"It’s that simple," he said. "Simple little things that every police officers in other communities get to enjoy. Come across an incident, need backup, push a button, it’s there in minutes. We have to wait hours or days."
Jones said while she understands most police forces are understaffed, the unique difference with NAPS is they are the only police force in those communities, so backup has to be flown in.
She noted another challenge on Chum’s plate as chief is the prescription drug abuse problem in remote First Nations communities. Jones said the social problems in many of the communities often involve the abuse of prescription drugs,
"It’s destroying families," she said. "Fort Hope declared a state of emergency in the fall; they attributed the main part of their state of emergency to the outrageous and chronic abuse of drugs."
While the change of command officially took place Friday afternoon, Chum has been on the job since Jan. 1. He’s a native of Moose Cree and has been a police officer for 21 years.
Jones has been a police officer for more than 33 years and joined the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation in September 2008. While officially retired, she said it’s probably just a matter of time before she gets involved in something new.
"But right now sleeping in is pretty good," she said.
