Her municipal emergency services career culminated in her role as Manager of Emergency Services, responsible for oversight of the Fire, Community Peace Officer, and Emergency Management Departments for Foothills County in Southern Alberta.

With a Bachelor of Arts in Justice and Law Enforcement from the University of Winnipeg and a Certificate in Adult Education from Mount Royal University, Darlene is committed to sharing her expertise and providing guidance and support to other emergency services personnel whenever possible.

Municipal Enforcement Credentials

Darlene has over 25 years experience providing municipal enforcement services relating to both provincial statutes and municipal bylaws, working in uniformed front-line, supervisory and managerial positions during her career.

With a strong focus on general and commercial vehicle traffic enforcement throughout her career, numerous training courses and certifications were completed and recertified, including: Legal Studies, Defensive Tactics, Radar/Lidar, EVOC, Traffic Stop Tactics, CVSA, Weights & Dimensions, Shotgun and many others.

As a supervisor and manager, Darlene has accumulated vast experience in the areas of policy and SOP development, drafting new and amended municipal bylaws and conducting departmental audits and reviews to ensure compliance with the Alberta Public Security Peace Officer Program and conducting investigations into public complaints against officers.

Darlene served on the Executive Board for the Alberta Association of Community Peace Officers as both a Zone Rep and Secretary for over 8 years. Following the tragic murder of a co-worker and fellow community Peace Officer, Darlene provided testimony at the Fatality Inquiry which followed and has since been a strong advocate for officer safety and educating others about the importance of Occupational Health and Safety requirements for municipal enforcement services departments.

Darlene is a lifelong learner who also has substantial experience in the area of curriculum development. She has drafted, designed and obtained provincial accreditation for a number of CPO 2 and CPO 1 Legal Studies courses. She is a highly regarded facilitator who has provided legal studies training to several hundred Community Peace Officers and Bylaw Enforcement Officers across Alberta over the past 17 years.

Emergency Management Credentials

As the primary Information Officer with Foothills County for over 20 years, Darlene supported the municipality’s emergency management response during the 2005, 2009 and 2013 flood events while also providing her expertise and leadership in response to a variety of other fire, severe weather and dangerous goods events encountered during her career.

Darlene’s reputation as a skilled emergency management Information Officer resulted in her being requested to assist with providing crisis communications supports and assistance to:

• Town of High River during high water events in 2005 and 2009

• Municipal District of Pincher Creek during the Kenow Wildfire in 2017

Darlene’s work, as a part of the emergency management response to some of Canada’s worst natural disasters, has built her emergency management skill sets, shown her proven ability to remain focused and calm during a crisis and clarified the importance of emergency management planning, training, exercises and overall readiness to respond to any critical incident that may occur.

Ongoing education, training and skill development is a key area of focus for Darlene. She has completed numerous emergency management training courses throughout her career, including: ICS 100, 200, 300, 400, Director of Emergency Management, Information Officer, Crisis Communications & Media Releases and has completed both the Emergency Operations Centre and Emergency Site Management Courses at the Canadian Emergency Management College in Ottawa.