WESTLOCK — With close to 20 years in the RCMP including roles fighting organized and serious crime in southern Alberta, Jeff Sehn now takes on his new role as Staff Sergeant with the Westlock RCMP detachment.
Born and raised in Medicine Hat, Sehn permanently fills the position left vacant by former Staff Sgt. Al Baird, who left in December 2022 after four years here, and takes over from acting Westlock RCMP commander Cpl. Riley Sutherland, who has filled in since Baird’s departure. Sehn’s first official day at the detachment was Sept. 5.
“I’m really excited to become part of the Westlock detachment,” said Sehn, noting his role as a district advisory non-commissioned officer for eastern Alberta over the past year.
“In that role I’ve also been responsible for Athabasca and Barrhead detachments so I’m extremely familiar with that area and the policing challenges facing that region.”
Sehn came to Westlock directly from the Redwater RCMP detachment, where he fulfilled the role of sergeant and detachment commander for the past three years.
He joined the RCMP in 2005 and was posted to Morinville before joining the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team in Medicine Hat in 2008, where he investigated serious crime and organized crime in both urban and rural areas.
From there he moved to Ponoka, and during his five-year tenure with that detachment, policed Highway 2 as part of the Integrated Traffic Unit and was promoted to corporal in 2015.
Sehn was again promoted to the role of sergeant and moved to Redwater in 2020 before finding his way to Westlock.
In addition to his familiarity with the area, having visited Westlock several times throughout his career, Sehn said he looks forward to being an active member of the community.
“The part that amazes me about Westlock, that I noticed right away, is the strong sense of pride and the feeling of community mindedness,” said Sehn. “It’s a very proud community, people are friendly. They seem very supportive of the RCMP members that are policing their community and I’m just looking to build on that and have us become more involved.”
With rural crime an increasing concern for many Westlock and area citizens, Sehn said there are areas he and the detachment will concentrate on in the coming months.
“We’re going to continue to focus on prolific offenders, crime reduction and crime prevention,” said Sehn. “I’m also a pretty large advocate for community initiatives such as victim services, rural crime watch, citizens on patrol. It’s rewarding to see people from the community support their own and contribute to making a change for the good.
“Anything that the Westlock detachment or the RCMP can do in the future to support and encourage those groups is time well spent.”
