Chief Dale McFee has informed the Edmonton Police Commission of his retirement from the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), effective February 21, 2025.
McFee was sworn in as Edmonton’s 23rd Chief of Police for the EPS on February 1, 2019, to bring change to the police service in programming, culture, and how it interacted with Edmontonians. In the coming months, the Commission will determine the hiring process to select a new Chief of Police for the EPS.
“The Commission thanks Chief Dale McFee for his dedication, commitment, and many contributions to the EPS and policing in Edmonton. Dale transformed our city’s police service into an organization focused on innovation and delivering policing as an outcome-based public service driven by community safety and well-being. As a result, the EPS is now internationally recognized as one of the most innovative police organizations in North America.”
John McDougall, Chair of the Edmonton Police Commission
The Commission hired McFee to lead and transform the police service to become fully committed to innovation, collaboration, partnerships, community approaches, and to building systems that could leverage alternatives to the justice system, where safe and appropriate. Shortly after McFee was sworn in, he undertook a comprehensive organizational review to reimagine the EPS as a public service that balances traditional law enforcement with community safety and well-being. This organizational realignment and restructuring affected nearly all parts of the EPS and required many areas of the police service to adapt and make changes. Throughout his tenure, McFee continued to lead many important and transformative initiatives which improved the EPS.
“I want to express my gratitude to the Edmonton Police Commission and to the people of Edmonton who have allowed me to lead one of the best organizations in North America. Thank you to the Commission who set the vision we have delivered on and fought with us through some tumultuous times. Together we have been impatient for progress, but steadfast in a shared belief about the EPS and the community we serve. This support was essential in allowing us to do our critical work. I know that everyone at the EPS will continue forward with this good work.”
Dale McFee, Chief of the Edmonton Police Service
McFee oversaw many strategic and service delivery changes at the police service, including: the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Framework; Young People Strategy; Divisional Boundary Review; High-Risk Encampment Teams; Virtual Opioid Dependency Program; Family Support Worker for Homicide Victims; Human-Centred Engagement and Liaison Partnership; Integrated Call Evaluation and Dispatch; Guns and Gangs Strategy; Recruitment and Training Programs; Animal Cruelty Investigation Unit; 10-Sqaud Model; and the Healthy Streets Operations Centre.
Under McFee’s leadership, the EPS’s Commitment to Action community engagement initiative has helped engage with a diverse cross section of Edmontonians to better understand and reimagine the role of community-based policing. Additional actions implemented under this initiative include: Crime and Trauma-informed Support Services Diversification; Youth Intervention Hub; Family Liaison Position in Major Crimes; Police and Crisis Response Team Deployment Model; Relentless Youth Worker Pilot Program; Community Assertive Services Team; Community-led Curriculum Development and Training; Black Community Communications Council; Community Engagement in the Public Complaint Process; Know Your Rights Campaign; Community Treatment Order Initiative; and Reporting Crimes Online in Multiple Languages.
He also delivered the EPS’s formal apology to the LGBTQ2S+ community in 2019 for past treatment by the police service, as well as expanded the number of Community Advisory Councils to better connect with Edmontonians and identify their needs. This included the Nîsohkamâkewin Council to addresses the inequities and barriers Indigenous peoples face, and with implementing the policing recommendations from national reports such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls; the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression Council to
guide the EPS in supporting members of the LGBTQ2S+ community, and with putting the EPS’s LGBTQ2S+ Community Feedback Report into practice; the Chief’s Community Council to assist the EPS in shaping policies and procedures related to all communities and applying the recommendations from the EPS’s Commitment to Action Community Feedback Report; and the EPS Research Advisory Council which is a group of prominent researchers that provide input, advice, and direction to the police service to help understand emerging and priority areas of policing research, connect with leading researchers worldwide, and collaborate with other services and agencies.
McFee has been integral in implementing the Commission’s vision of delivering policing priorities for Edmonton that are rooted in community safety and well-being for all.