Alberta has officially launched a new, consolidated body to oversee police services across the province, marking a significant shift in how law enforcement accountability is managed. The Police Review Commission (PRC) began its operations on Monday, December 1, 2025, as announced by Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis.
From Recommendation to Reality
The commission's creation fulfills a key recommendation from a 2021 report authored by Temitope Oriola, a special adviser to the Alberta government on reviewing the Police Act. Oriola's report, submitted on August 31, 2021, explicitly called for a single, civilian-led entity to oversee all police services in the province.
This recommendation aimed to fix what Oriola described as a "highly fragmented and confusing landscape" of oversight, which included multiple municipal police commissions, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), and the Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB). His research involved public consultations with nearly two dozen stakeholder groups and cross-jurisdictional analysis, including studying Norway's Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs.
Independence is Paramount
While pleased to see ASIRT fall under the new PRC, Oriola raises a critical caution. He emphasizes that the commission's success hinges on its independence from police influence. In his original recommendations, he stressed the need to staff the oversight body's top positions with individuals who have no ties to law enforcement.
"The new police oversight body shouldn't be a retirement gig for cops," Oriola warns, highlighting a common pitfall observed across Canada. His analyses revealed a tendency for police leadership to sway police commissions, even during public hearings. To prevent this, he advocated for investigators with no law enforcement or military background to avoid investigative "tunnel vision."
Unresolved Questions and Legal Authority
One outstanding question is the fate of existing municipal police commissions in cities like Edmonton and Lethbridge. Their future role alongside the new provincial body remains unclear.
Furthermore, Oriola's report insisted on a clear legal framework that "unambiguously subordinates" police services to the oversight body. This means police leadership cannot selectively choose which of the commission's decisions to accept, ensuring the oversight has real teeth.
The legislative foundation for this change, the Police Amendment Act, received royal assent in December 2022. The launch of the Police Review Commission now puts this reformed system of accountability to the test, with its civilian-led independence being the most closely watched metric for success.
