ESTEVAN — Entering 2025, Estevan Police Chief Jamie Blunden said it would be a year of change for the Estevan Police Service.
While it certainly lived up to his expectations, he also believes the EPS and the community have seen a lot of positives.
Speaking with SaskToday for a year-end interview, Blunden said the changes range from new members to the impact of the refurbishment of the 1100 and 1200 blocks of Fourth Street.
The EPS has secured funding for three new positions from the province that will allow the EPS to enhance each of its drug enforcement unit and criminal investigations division, and then hire someone to be a school or community liaison officers, or a member of the Police and Crisis Team, or a combination of all three.
Two new constables joined the EPS after graduating from the Saskatchewan Police College in the spring, and two more just graduated from the college. Another two will start at the college next month.
Blunden pointed out the EPS’s authorized strength for sworn members, including the three-person executive team, is 28 officers and four special constables. At this time, they have 22 deployable members, the two recruits who just graduated from police college, one member on leave and three vacancies.
The EPS also secured some funding from the criminal forfeiture fund that will be used to develop a child youth advocacy room, which Blunden described as a safe space for children who need to speak with the police or Southeast Regional Victim Services. Blunden noted it should be ready early in the new year.
“It’s looking really, really fantastic, and everybody that comes in that has anything to do with kids and interviewing them is pretty pumped about it, so I think that’s a big, important piece," said Blunden.
As for crime numbers, the data from the Dec. 17 police board meeting showed the individual categories and the overall numbers were down.
The EPS has reached the end of a three-year strategic plan and is working on a five-year document.
“I think we’ve accomplished a lot in that strategic plan. We are planning and we do have a template put together for a five-year strategic plan moving forward for 2026-2030,” said Blunden.
He is looking forward to more technology and modernization within the EPS, and a plan to tend to the needs of businesses in downtown Estevan.
Some challenges
The EPS had to endure some challenges. The city had a homicide in May that remains before the courts. It was just the third incident classified as a homicide in Estevan in 10 years.
Former constable Vaughn Golden was charged with multiple infractions late in 2024 and pleaded guilty to an assault charge in October. He received an absolute discharge from the courts as part of the guilty plea, and was dismissed by the EPS on Dec. 3.
“Policing is about relationships. We want to be as transparent and accountable as we can, and i think we’ve done that. I think we’ve shown that we’re transparent. I think we’ve shown that we’re doing the right thing," said Blunden.
"We’re accountable to the community, and I think if they look at it from that perspective, I think we’re going to show we can put that behind us.”
There are those who don’t like the process that the EPS had to follow, Blunden said, and so they’re not happy that Golden was on paid leave throughout the year.
“We’ve followed the rules. We’ve followed the Police Act. We’re following the collective bargaining agreement [with the Estevan Police Association]. I think and hope that when people look at it in its entirety, I think people recognize we’re very accountable for what we do.”
The EPS was also notified in the fall that the provincial Serious Incident Response Team had wrapped up its investigation into an officer-involved shooting that occurred at the police station in November 2023, clearing the EPS of any wrongdoing in an incident that left one person dead and another injured. Blunden is pleased to see that investigation concluded.
The EPS has been working with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency on bringing in a computer-automated dispatch system for the past year as well. The work will continue into 2026.
With eight officers under five years of seniority, Blunden said it means the EPS is going to have a young service.
“The development and the training and everything that goes into that is going to be very important moving forward," he said.
