Alberta Sheriffs Branch
The Alberta Sheriffs Branch is a provincial law enforcement agency overseen by the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General of the province of Alberta, Canada. Under the authority of the "Peace Officer Act", Alberta Sheriffs are provincial peace officers with jurisdiction over the province of Alberta. The Premier of Alberta has the authority to grant emergency police powers to all Alberta Sheriffs in the case of any major emergencies that occur within the province. The Alberta Sheriffs Branch is the largest sheriff service in Canada. There are several divisions currently operating in various areas around the province . The sheriffs can enforce all provincial and Federal acts with active enforcement depending on unit. Training is completed at the Justice and Solicitor General's Training Academy, located in Edmonton. Sheriff recruit training is a fifteen-week course, and once on specialized units, an additional eight to twelve weeks of training is conducted. History. Formation of Court and Prisoner Security. During the 1980s in Alberta, the court system had a multitude of agencies that contributed to its operation. The Provincial Court of Alberta's security and operation (when referring to the process of moving prisoners to the court house for  court appearances) was the responsibility of the local municipal police forces when they were inside a major municipality. Rural courthouses were the responsibility of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta was the responsibility of the RCMP all over the province. Within the correctional system, moving prisoners from provincial remand and correctional centres fell to the Alberta Correctional Escort Service (ACES), which was an unarmed service with the Alberta Correctional Services. Transferring prisoners to and from federal correctional institutions was the responsibility of RCMP as the unarmed ACES were not permitted to perform  these transfers. In April 1988, Court and Prisoner Security (CAPS) was formed to free up resources tied up in the operation of the Alberta justice system. CAPS initially operated in the major city centres of Calgary and Edmonton, but eventually expanded to the smaller cities of Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer and Wetaskiwin in September 1988. The organization when up and running fully consisted of roughly 150 sworn members. The CAPS officers were armed special constables under the Alberta Police Act. The organization drew its sworn members primarily from retired police officers with the remainder made up of officers from  Alberta Correctional Services. CAPS officers were stationed within the courthouses of Alberta being made up both of full-time salaried employees and part-time wage casuals who were only armed after training. The culture within CAPS at this time was keep their organization and employment as armed special constables (the first for the province of Alberta) from mainstream public knowledge. CAPS duties included transferring serving inmates from provincial remand and correctional centres to other provincial centres and federal correctional institutions, moving inmates to and from provincial courthouses and Alberta Court of Queen's Bench as well as providing security to  the judiciary within the courtroom. CAPS constables were also able to execute outstanding warrants and take members of the public into custody from court. Special duties. Lieutenant governor of Alberta security. In 1994, CAPS took on the responsibility for the escort of the lieutenant governor of Alberta. Initially this amounted only in the capacity of a driver; however, during the term of Lieutenant Governor Lois Hole an incident that was classified as a security breach occurred and CAPS began providing close protection security for the Lieutenant Governor's public appearances. 1995 premiers conference. In June 1995, Alberta was host to  a premiers conference in Jasper, Alberta. Despite the increased tension in Canada and among the provincial premiers due to the 1995 Quebec Referendum, then Premier Ralph Klein, chose to go against the established practice of contracting the RCMP for site and personnel security. He instead opted to utilize CAPS constables as an armed security presence. CAPS officers were drawn from the courthouses to provide security for the site of the conference as well as the protection of the premiers families when off site. 28th G8 Summit. In 2002, the 28th G8 summit was to be held in Kananaskis, Alberta. This  was to be the first G8 summit held after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Because of this and the fact that G8 summits have typically been the scene of multiple protests and demonstrations, special considerations were made in the interest of security. As security assets were being pulled from around the province and even across Canada, courthouse activity in Alberta was lowered to allow the utilization of in some cases 50% of the courthouse CAPS constables. CAPS' contribution to the security situation was twofold. Constables were provided for the security of the summit site; furthermore, CAPS was embedded with the Calgary  Police Service (CPS) to aid in the transportation of mass arrests from the anticipated protest that could occur. Changeover to Sheriffs Branch. In September 2005, the groundwork began to be laid to transform CAPS into what would become the Alberta Sheriffs Branch. The Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security reviewed a number of law enforcement activities commonly conducted by fully trained police officers. Due to the extensive and demanding requirements of the police, a number of these areas had historically received limited attention from the police services. It was decided to embark upon a strategy of "filling the gap