Bow Island RCMP welcomes newest member

Commentator/Courier Photo by Anna Smith New cop on the block: Cst. Delaney Black poses for a portrait beside a police cruiser.

By Anna Smith
Commentator/Courier

Fresh out of Depot in Regina, Cst. Delaney Black is looking forward to getting to know his new community as he joins the Bow Island RCMP detachment.

This posting will be Black’s first, something he has been looking forward to since he was a young child, said Black.

“I’ve wanted to be a police officer for as long as I can remember,” said Black. “It was always a really, really attractive career option, and I’ve been really excited to do it. I come from a family of RCMP. So my father is a retired member and my brother is a current member.”

Black hopes to be deeply involved with the community and get to know the people of Bow Island, and said that he looks forward to attending all kinds of community events.

“Right now we’re doing the Stuff the Cruiser event. Last week, I attended the local town hall Christmas party that had some of the workers of the Town and the fire department there. So any type of community events, I’d love to know about them, and I really enjoy attending them,” said Black. “Anyone that has any events like that going on, that’s something that I’m super happy to get involved in.”

Black is currently not living in Bow Island, though he noted that he tried to find housing in town when he first received the news he would be posted there. While he is currently living in Redcliff, he stresses that he is a member of Bow Island RCMP.

“I’m posted to Bow Island, it’s just that I happen to live in Redcliff,” said Black. “I might park my police car at the Redcliff detachment when I’m not using it, but it’ll always be here for Bow Island. I’m not responsible for responding to Redcliff, I’m responding to calls to Bow Island and the surrounding area.”

Black looks forward to employing a community-based approach to policing, focusing on addressing the root of the problem and de-escalation when needed.

“One of the biggest reasons why I am so attracted to Canadian policing is we’re not always at the highest amount of action immediately,” said Black. “I enjoy looking at things from an educational perspective when we can.” Black adds that he does not subscribe to the idea that he needs to pull over everyone and ticket everyone to make his presence known as the “new cop in town,” and wants to be approachable to the people he’s serving.

“I kind of grew up in a household where tickets were earned. They weren’t just given out for fun,” said Black. “I like the idea of coming to an agreement, communicating with everyone involved with whatever incident is that I’m responding to, and coming up with a plan of approach that will basically best suit the problem at hand. Not every call needs to result in somebody being put in handcuffs.”

When he’s not in uniform, Black describes himself as an avid outdoorsman, with a love of snowmobiling, dirt bikes, and horseback riding, as well as trying to keep up with his 5-year-old husky’s energy.

He adds that he’s currently working his way through getting to know all of the local businesses and organizations, and is excited to learn the town as the detachment undergoes some renovations to work better for the team.

“I know in times past there was an attempted hub-based policing approach to try and police from Redcliff. And that honestly, the town was not satisfied with that. So RCMP took their concerns to heart, and the detachment has been reopened, and we’re doing some work to make it a bit better for us as members,” said Black. “I’m really looking forward to it.”