It was announced yesterday that Weyburn’s Chief of Police Jamie Blunden will soon become Estevan’s Chief of Police.
Blunden said that while he is excited to go to Estevan, the decision to leave Weyburn was not an easy one.
"I look at the community here in Weyburn, and I look at the membership here in the service and I don't have anything but good comments to make about it,” he said. “You know, everybody here has been absolutely phenomenal. The community is phenomenal. Our members here and the police service have been fantastic. I think that when it comes down to being a chief and being successful and moving the Police Service forward you have to have a third relationship and that's with the police board. I think recently our value systems are sort of not aligned. I believe in servant leadership, I believe in empowering other people. I believe in making sure that the people around you are supported and developed and I think that our police board, some of the members that are on there, are still in that different era of traditional leadership, traditional management, where they talk about power and control and making decisions that aren’t really aligned with my value system. I think there are some wonderful people on the police board, but I don't think it's a positive relationship anymore and as a result, I think that affects the police service and I think it's time to make that move that way."
"We'll have an opportunity for our members here and the service to have somebody new in this position and maybe move the police service forward. I think over the last four and a half years that I've been here, we moved the needle quite a bit. I think, myself and Deputy Chief VanDeSype, I think we've made a lot of different changes here and I think it's been positive."
While he noted that his values are telling him that it is time to leave, he has nothing but positive things to say about the membership and the community.
"When I look at being proud of something, I look at where our membership has gone and, you know, the growth and development, not only the service and the members but the community as a result of that.,” he said. “When I first came here we changed the leadership model that we have here. We've got a lot more individuals in leadership positions. I think the membership here has grown substantially with respect to that. We move people into Deputy spots and into corporal positions, we've created sergeant roles that are oversight, and I think everybody along the way has grown and developed. So, when I look at that, I think it's the most important thing. Especially in servant leadership, the people around you are better when you leave. And I think me leaving at this point the service is better. The members are better. I think the community is in a better place.”
He noted that he and Deputy Chief Brent VanDeSype worked to put together a health and well-being program for their team, grew the canine unit, and focused on community engagement, something Chief Blunden, and now the Weyburn Police Service as a whole is known for in Weyburn.
“I think as a person coming in from outside, when you're new, you’ve got to get involved with the community,” he said about why he got involved in the community. “You know, I looked at the community and what was the best way to get involved, to meet people, to get them to know who I am on a different level than just the police chief in the uniform."
One of those ways, he noted, was upon his arrival in Weyburn, he sought out some of the places that were important to him, including the Weyburn Red Wings.
"Hockey is what I grew up doing and I thought it was a great opportunity to meet people at the hockey games and a really good way to get to them quickly. Along with that, mental health is a very, very important thing both on our job, dealing with individuals, the health and well-being of our members. I think it affects everybody in every single community. So I, you know, I got involved with the CMHA. So that was important and I think community engagement is how we grow and develop, right? Weyburn is a phenomenal community. So, you know, I was I just really relish the relationships that I built in the city and I want to thank everybody out there for those opportunities.”
Blunden noted that there was one thing in particular that he would miss about Weyburn.
"That community feeling,” he laughed. “You know, we sit around here in the lunchroom with the members, we talk and everybody knows everybody. You walk down to the diner or you stop by the gas station, it's those people that you see. You're in the cruiser car and you have to drive and you're running into people smiling and waving, you know, it's a community-oriented place. And so that's what I'm going to miss most about Weyburn is having that small town feeling in a mid-sized city.”
Blunden also shared his message to the members of the police service.
"First and foremost, I think I've grown a lot from being part of their service, and I think the members they're professional, they're dedicated, they're very community-oriented, you know, just continue doing what you're doing because they're doing a fantastic job. They don't hear it enough, they don't hear it a lot but this community should recognize the amount of work that our members do.”
He also shared some parting words for the community of Weyburn.
“Keep being who you are,” he said. “I mean, it's a phenomenal community, I love it. I would encourage getting a little bit more involved. As I said, I'm leaving as a result of the relationship with the police board. But get involved a little bit, understand what's going on, you've got certain individuals that you elect to the council, and we’ve got an election coming up, I think that if you're engaged and you know what's going on, you can make some good decisions and then maybe go to some of those meetings because the community is the ones that are affected by some of the decisions being made by some of the committees established.”
He noted that there will likely be a survey available to the public in the next few months as they lay out a new strategic plan.
“So, Deputy Chief VanDeSype is going to be moving into the role when I am gone and part of moving forward, for the next five years is a build of a strategic plan and part of that is having a survey that comes out that's going to actually ask for input from the community about what they want to see,” he said. “You know one of the questions that's going to come up is Are we going to close the front doors for a period of time overnight and over the weekend? I'm going to say that some individuals on the police board want them closed to save some dollars which okay, fair enough, that's the decision but I think the community should have a say in that and if you feel that they should be open, you should participate in that in that survey."
Blunden will be starting in Estevan on October 15th, with his last day in Weyburn still pending.