Medicine Hat Chief of Police Mike Worden in his office one year after he started in this role (photo courtesy Ross Lavigne)

By Teagan Rasche

Medicine Hat’s police chief reflects on his first year in office

Jan 5, 2022 | 3:32 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It is a big day for Mike Worden as he returns to work after the holidays.

He is reflecting on his 365 days as Medicine Hat police chief, saying they’ve flown by.

“Meeting the people here and meeting some of the people in the community was a great part,” Worden said. “Returning to Medicine Hat after being gone for over 30 years for me was a great experience.”

Worden returned home to Medicine Hat after leaving for university. He then spent 25 years working for the Calgary Police Service.

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Worden took over as chief last January when Andy McGrogan retired.

During his first year as chief, one of Worden’s goals was to meet with the community, which proved to be a challenge due to the pandemic.

“It did allow me to spend more time with the employees and the service,” Worden said. “I was able to meet with almost every one of them over a two-month period and get to hear about the things they thought we were doing well and some of the things we thought we could improve upon.”

Since then, the police service created an Indigenous Advisory Committee and continued to build a diverse organization, one that helps better serve the needs of the community.

When it comes to employee wellness, the emotional, physical, spiritual and psychological programs are all under review.

Despite the positive internal changes in 2021, Worden knows about the current issues in the community.

“Drug houses, drugs in the community, mental health issues with some of our citizens, those are the main things we deal with in a day in and day out situations with our patrol officers,” Worden said. “Those are the things we are focusing on along with domestic violence, which has increased in 2020 and 2021.”

Worden says the service plans to tackle those issues by pivoting resources.

“It’s ensuring that we have the right people in the right place, try to be as effective and efficient as possible and that’s by use of technologies and by using the public with their engagement and help to try and solve some of these crimes,” Worden said.

As Worden enters his second year as chief, he wants to continue keeping Medicine Hat a safe city, address crime and engage more of the community.

One of the things he plans to do is start a community survey.

“We’ll get to hear from the community in regards to the things we are doing well and some of the things we can approve upon,” Worden said. “We’ll take that to help develop a business strategy for the next few years to ensure we are doing the best we can with the resources that we have.”

The survey will likely be out in February.

For now, Worden is excited about the bright future of the police service and making the city a better place.