POW! Nunavut cops compare notes in city of acronyms

Detachment commanders from all 25 RCMP units gathered in Iqaluit this week for an important meeting with an awkward acronym.

POWPM stands for “people-oriented workshop planning meeting,” but Sgt. Jimmy Akavak describes it as an annual general meeting for Nunavut’s detachment commanders.

Akavak said commanders get instructions on how to run the day-to-day operations of their detachment like managing finances.

But it’s also a chance for members to talk about ways to better serve their communities and problems that are universal in Nunavut.

“Each community has their own [problems],” Akavak said during a coffee break Thursday. “But the majority of the problems hover around alcohol.”

Officers also got updates on recent suicide prevention research, the Family Abuse Intervention Act and a speech from Supt. Steve McVarnock, the commander of V Division, which was closed to the public.

“We’ve been involved in suicide prevention before, but not at this level,” Akavak said.

For Cpl. Peter Marshall, head of the two-man Gjoa Haven detachment, it’s a chance to meet with colleagues and share tips, not only for fighting crime, but preventing crime and reaching out to the community.

“Nunavut is so large and the detachments spread out from east and west,” Marshall said. “It’s very hard for us to have communication and sit down under one roof and discuss operation plans, discuss budgets, issues in other communities and how these issues affect us all.”

Marshall said it’s especially important for members from the two-man detachments to trade ideas, because so often they only have time to respond to crime and then do the necessary paperwork, leaving them little time to meet with community members or go into the schools.

In Gjoa Haven, like most Nunavut communities, crime is largely fuelled by booze and drugs.

“If we can reduce crime we can make life better for the residents of Nunavut,” he said.

Fifteen of Nunavut’s detachments have two members, although some could soon benefit from Inuit community constables who’ll soon attend the RCMP depot in Regina, Sask.

Having a community constable in his detachment “would be a big benefit,” Marshall said. He hasn’t been able to find a candidate from Gjoa Haven yet, but asked anyone who’s interested to give him a call.

In fact, it took some shuffling by V Division brass to ensure the smaller detachments remained fully staffed while their commanders came to Iqaluit for POWPM, said Insp. Frank Gallagher, who oversees operations for the divisions.

But he said the division is getting closer to being fully staffed and trying to move away from the often-transient nature of the force in Nunavut.

“People are used to seeing Mounties come, Mounties go,” Gallagher said.