Chief Rod Knecht of the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), is on the verge of a new contract agreement with the Edmonton Police Commission, however, it’s not a done deal yet.
“I’m anticipating something any day now,” he said. “Seriously, any day I’m hoping to hear. What’s being discussed is maybe some tweaking of the contract and an extension.”
This would be the second contract extension for Knecht, who replaced Chief Mike Boyd in June of 2011. His current contract was extended in 2013. He said this time around the commission isn’t looking for as many amendments to his contract as what happened almost five years ago.
“I was hoping it was going to be last month, that’s what I thought it was going to be, but it hasn’t come to fruition yet, so I’m being patient.”
Knecht had a plan when he first joined the EPS. On Thursday, he said he’s completed most of the things on his check list.
“I still have a couple of things in that plan I’d like to complete. I’d obviously like to see our operational intelligence and our command centre as such stood up, and I’d also like to pursue cyber-crime as well. So I’d like to have a cyber-crime strategy in place and build up that unit into the future.”
He’s also wanting to move on with a succession plan for a couple of internal candidates – a strong hint this next contract may be the last.