Leaders reflect on top cop’s tenure

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This article was published 29/12/2022 (869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Community leaders in Steinbach and surrounding municipalities say they hope the next person who leads the Steinbach RCMP detachment adopts an approach similar to that of the officer retiring from the role.

Dec. 30 is Staff Sgt. Harold Laninga’s last day in the job he has held for just over a decade.

He will be succeeded by Staff Sgt. Guy Landreville of the St Pierre RCMP detachment on a date yet to be released.

Laninga, who declined to be interviewed for this piece, arrived in April 2012 to a growing city that had been without a staff sergeant for four months. His predecessor, Davy Lee, had been promoted to another province.

Laninga, who is originally from Winnipeg, arrived in Steinbach from The Pas, where he oversaw the detachment for 11 years. Before that, he spent two years in Lynn Lake and six in Toronto.

“He wanted to move here, he wanted this posting, and he wanted to get involved in the community, not just through his work but in his personal life as well,” recalled Michael Zwaagstra, a Steinbach city councillor and member of the local RCMP advisory committee.

Laninga’s long-term commitment to a city that had seen several staff sergeants come and go meant the advisory committee could discuss long-term goals and tackle persistent challenges, Zwaagstra said.

“Harold has a strong commitment to Steinbach,” he said. “He was at every meeting. He’s been a key part of that committee.”

Laninga’s tenure coincided with a suite of wider challenges facing policing in Canada, from staffing shortages in the ranks of the RCMP to weakened public confidence in law enforcement that occasionally led to protests and calls to reduce police budgets and fund more community-based prevention programs instead.

“The last five years, or even the last three years, have been a big change in policing,” Ste Anne’s police chief, Marc Robichaud, said. “It’s becoming harder to hire policemen. There’s less people that are interested in joining policing as a profession.”

There were also federal and provincial legislative changes to adjust to, including cannabis legalization, progressively tightened driving laws, and, more recently, COVID-19 enforcement.

Steinbach’s population growth was another challenge. In 2017, “D” Division reinstated Steinbach’s traffic services unit after reviewing statistics provided by the city’s advisory committee.

The additional officers were welcome news for a city whose population grew by 5,000 people during Laninga’s time as staff sergeant.

“The size of Steinbach alone has increased dramatically since Harold’s been there,” Robichaud said.

“There’s limited resources,” Zwaagstra said. “Even though we have steadily increased the number of officers, there’s still a lot that is happening here that needs to be dealt with.”

Sgt. Joanne Ryll was Laninga’s second-in-command for the entirety of his time as staff sergeant. She also led the detachment in an interim basis in the months before he arrived.

“Harold and I go back to 2012,” Ryll said in an email. “We instantly connected and were like a well-oiled working machine. He will definitely be missed by all at the detachment and the communities he served.”

Behind the scenes, Zwaagstra said Laninga was effective at securing valuable external funding, like Manitoba Public Insurance grants that offset traffic enforcement overtime costs.

Zwaagstra’s seat on the advisory committee made him realize policing has a lot of moving parts.

“There are many different things that the staff sergeant has to juggle,” he said.

All those moving parts entail decisions about what approach to take in the detachment’s top job.

“I think Harold’s done a fantastic job with Steinbach RCMP,” Robichaud said. “I would say that there’s times that we didn’t always see eye to eye, but I have the world of respect for what Harold’s done with Steinbach and how he’s managed that department and made Steinbach a safe place.”

Another balancing act is resource allocation for urban and rural areas. The Steinbach detachment not only serves the city, but also several surrounding rural municipalities.

“I think in general, Harold has done a very good job for us,” said Jim Funk, the RM of Hanover’s new reeve. “I find Harold very approachable. He listens, and he acted on our requests.”

Funk said Hanover council is “for the most part happy and content” with the level of service it receives from the RCMP.

“Of course, we would always like a little extra,” Funk added, “but we also know that they are cut pretty thin and there’s only so and so much time allotted for us.”

Funk’s counterpart in La Broquerie, Reeve Ivan Normandeau, said he’s likewise satisfied with the RCMP service in that RM.

“I really have no problems with the job that he has done over the last several years,” Normandeau said. “Obviously we want to see more people on the street and more of a presence, but I also understand the fact that they have tight budgets.”

Normandeau said he appreciated Laninga’s frankness in dealing with council.

“He calls a spade a spade, he’s a straight shooter, and he’ll let us know if doesn’t have any manpower right now.”

Normandeau also recalled Laninga’s availability, even when he didn’t deliver quarterly crime statistics in person.

“I know he’s always ready for a phone call. I’ve reached out to him a couple times and he’s always answered his phone.”

Zwaagstra’s assessment from an urban standpoint was similarly appreciative.

“Harold is going to be a tough act to follow,” he said.

In recent years, Zwaagstra said Laninga made progress on street racing—a perennial source of resident phone calls to councillors—and various other traffic issues, and cracked down on repeat offenders.

“I would say that definitely things have gotten better in Steinbach as a result of Harold’s leadership,” Zwaagstra said.

Normandeau said La Broquerie still struggles with vandalism but acknowledged it’s a crime that’s hard to prevent.

“Unfortunately, we have many complaints about dirt bikes and ATVs and quads too,” he added.

Funk said property crime remains a problem in the RM of Hanover, citing as an example the vandalism of Mitchell’s skatepark shortly after its grand opening.

Zwaagstra said Laninga’s successor will need to continue focusing on the local drug trade.

“So many crimes are being fueled by people who have addictions,” he said. “A lot of property crimes are from people that are looking for money for drugs.”

Traffic enforcement will also need to remain a top priority.

“We can’t be complacent,” Zwaagstra said. “There’s actually a lot that is going on that the police need to deal with. No one should be coming to Steinbach on the assumption that it’s an easy posting.”

Municipalities serviced by the detachment may have to open their wallets if they want more police presence.

“The city, we control the funding for the city side, which we’ve steadily increased, but on the rural side, the number of officers has not increased at nearly the same rate,” Zwaagstra said.

Funk said the issue of police funding is one Hanover council may discuss in the next six months. In the meantime, he said he hopes Steinbach’s next staff sergeant will be willing to innovate when needed.

Normandeau said a bilingual staff sergeant would be an asset in his municipality.

Zwaagstra said Steinbach needs a staff sergeant who is in it for the long haul.

“We need someone who wants to invest in the community, who wants to live in the community, and preferably, who wants to be in the community on a longer-term basis.”

Robichaud, whose Ste Anne officers lodge and breathalyze arrested individuals in Steinbach, said he hopes for collaboration.

“I would hope that they’re interested in being involved in integrated policing initiatives and are interested in being collaborative with some of the new ideas that the province is coming out with as far as tiered policing models and different forms of integration,” he explained.

Laninga’s successor will also need to consider an addition to the Steinbach RCMP detachment, which was built more than 30 years ago for a staff considerably smaller than what it now houses.

“The building is definitely getting very full, there’s no doubt about it,” Zwaagstra said.