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Aéroports de Montréal’s Airport Patrol: Now A CALEA Accredited Force
The arrival of Canada’s first airport patrol – and the first Québec organization – within the exclusive ranks of CALEA is an event in itself. However, the Airport Patrol’s distinctive characteristics are even more important factors for CALEA. François Pépin, Accreditation Manager for the Airport Patrol, explains what CALEA is gaining in exchange. “First, we have become the first French-speaking law enforcement agency to join CALEA; second, our operating procedures, unique among accredited agencies, illustrate the ability of CALEA to adapt to distinctive environments.”
The language difference represented a first-time challenge for CALEA’s assessors, since all of Aéroports de Montréal’s procedures were only written in French. The CALEA assessment team had to use the services of interpreters throughout the accreditation process. But what might have been a major barrier at the outset of the process, in fact became for the assessors, an opportunity to develop an approach that CALEA may be able to use with other French language law enforcement organizations.
Aéroports de Montréal’s Airport Patrol works in partnership with several other law enforcement services. It is a unique work environment, because Airport Patrol staff interacts every day with employees of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the municipal police forces of Montréal’and Mirabel, the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, and Employment and Immigration Canada. Most of the Airport Patrol’s operating procedures take this reality into account. The CALEA accreditation process improved the quality of these procedures and, consequently, its co-operation with these organizations.
Mr. Pépin adds: “Beyond these challenges, the accreditation process allowed us to conduct an in-depth re-evaluation of all our working methods and to take a significant step forward in terms of the quality of our services. It was a huge – even colossal – amount of work for an organization that was created barely five years ago and that does not yet have all the resources or experience of an agency that has been operational for many years. We can be proud of this achievement, which required the contributions of many people at Aéroports de Montréal. They received valuable support from two outside partners, Staff Sergeant Shane Loxterkamp of the Edmonton (Alberta) Police Service and Captain Albert Britnell of the Charleston County (South Carolina) Aviation Authority Police Department.”
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