Rankin Inlet (Aug 13/03) - There's a new sheriff in town and he wants to meet you.

Sgt. Grant St. Germaine has taken over as detachment commander in Rankin Inlet and his goal is more community involvement.

RCMP focus The Nunavut RCMP work under direction from the territory to achieve five specific areas of interest. Aside from highlighting community involvement Sgt. St. Germaine said he plans to find ways to specifically address those goas as well. The strategies include: Youth - being a positive role model to local youth and identifying youth at risk and assist in dealing with drugs, alcohol and peer pressure; Recruitment of Inuit RCMP members - help to create a representative police force. The goal is to reach a force that has 40 to 60 per cent Inuit members; Alternative and restorative justice - Involving communities in policing and respecting Inuit Qaujimajtuqangit (traditional knowledge); Family violence - work to ensure the safety of Nunavummiut by exercising zero tolerance towards family violence. The RCMP will also work with the community on these issues and support prevention initiatives. Superior service delivery and accountability - RCMP will remain accountable to the communities they serve and deliver a service that strives for excellence.

St. Germaine hails from a family of RCMP officers. His grandfather and father were members, his wife, Wendy was a member, and his daughter is currently studying to follow that legacy.

Originally from Nova Scotia, he just finished a 22- month posting in Kugluktuk.

Using that as an example he said he hopes to integrate community policing techniques that worked well there, here in Rankin.

To achieve that goal St. Germaine said he wants to have regular visits to the schools by members.

Visits where officers will go into classrooms with no set agenda but just to talk with the kids.

He wants to set up an inter-agency group to discuss community issues and make regular visits to hamlet council meetings.

That way not only will the community come to know the RCMP better but the members will also become better acquainted with the community.

"Six or seven per cent of the population are all the police will deal with," said St. Germaine.

Outside that core group of troublemakers, he said, there is over 90 per cent of the community that isn't involved in crime.

In order to keep a community safe, St. Germaine said Mounties must talk to that 90 per cent too.

"If the guys are driving around in the vehicle and they see a bunch of kids playing road hockey, stop and talk to them," he said.

"I would like to see all my members in the detachment involved in some kind of community activity."

That kind of active participation, St. Germaine said, brings crime down.

That philosophy encouraged the people in Kugluktuk to talk with the RCMP.

St. Germaine said everyday people would be coming into to the detachment, sometimes just to talk.

He is advocating the same open-door policy in Rankin.

"If we get feedback from the community, and that's who we work for, it makes it easier for us to do what we do," said St. Germaine.