COCHRANE— The Cochrane RCMP has announced Inspector Dave Brunner will be Cochrane’s full-time, permanent detachment commander.
Brunner has spent the last 22 months in Cochrane as the acting detachment commander, but was recently appointed to a permanent status upon his promotion to Inspector.
“This is a pretty good moment for me, for sure. It’s somewhat of a dream come true. When I started back as a constable, I just wanted to make sure I made it through my career. To be commissioned to the officer rank and be an inspector is pretty huge,” he said. “Taking over Cochrane 22 months ago, and working with, not only the people who are housed in this office, but the Town of Cochrane, Rocky View County, Big Horn and of course Stoney Nakoda as partners has been a tremendous experience for me. They’re outstanding partners to work with and I think the Cochrane detachment has a very bright future.”
Brunner has been in Cochrane since 2016. In his time here, he said, he has greatly enjoyed watching the trajectory of the Cochrane RCMP detachment.
“Working with the Town of Cochrane and their management team to get the new [Protective Services Building], the Town has put an outstanding group of people together to facilitate that,” he said. “I’ve been involved in three separate builds over my career and none of them even come close to working with the Town’s people on this one.”
Brunner said he has a few issues in mind that he wants to focus on moving forward as detachment commander, particularly, issues that have gotten worse during the pandemic.
“I think because of COVID we’re seeing a lot more mental health issues across the board, as well as domestic violence. It’s certainly something that we’re going to concentrate on,” he said. “We’re going to try and do our best to address those two issues, which are nothing unique to Cochrane itself, we’re seeing that province-wide and somewhat nation-wide, as the stressors of working from home, COVID … And the downturn in the economy, start to take its toll.”
Brunner explained departments traditionally would pick an area of focus which would become the mandate for a 12-month period before being reviewed. Recently, the demands on police have changed, which means that police forces must be agile in their ability to change focus and respond to the needs of the communities they serve.
“I want to build on the relationships and maintain those strong relationships that we have with our community partners. There are a lot of demands on policing right now, and I think that we have to remain engaged with our partners, and not just our partners, but the general public, to let them have a voice. We have to be agile and have the ability to change focus and direction as these things come up.”
Brunner said his experience with the people of Cochrane, and with the members of the Cochrane RCMP, in his first 22 months as acting detachment commander have brought him a great sense of pride, and he is excited to remain in the community for the next leg of his career.
