For the first time last fall, the RCMP and the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) conducted a visual river sweep of the North Saskatchewan River with the goal of possibly recovering the remains of one or more missing people.
Within the first 10 minutes of starting the river sweep, the EPS recovered a body floating in the river.
"It didn't meet the original goal that I was looking for because I was hoping it would help clear historical files," says Cst. Cory Kerr, of the EPS. "But I would say it was a success in the fact that we did locate an individual that prevented opening a new historical file and that person's recovered body was then handled respectfully."
With help from Edmonton Fire Rescue Services and Park Rangers, the EPS used boats and a helicopter to scan the river and riverbanks to look for human remains and clothing within Edmonton city limits. The RCMP used a helicopter to search the longer portion of the North Saskatchewan River from the eastern limit of the City of Edmonton to the Saskatchewan border.
Cpl. Ray Tardif was a spotter in the helicopter.
"We didn't recover anything on our section of the search," says Tardif. "But bodies have been found that have floated all the way from the Edmonton area into northeastern Saskatchewan, so we wanted to cover all areas from one point to the next in tandem with Edmonton Police."
In the spring, the Alberta RCMP met with the EPS to discuss doing a river search and other missing persons initiatives.
The EPS has several ongoing investigations in which the missing person is believed to have entered the river and there are currently 36 people who have been reported missing to RCMP detachments in communities along the North Saskatchewan River.
Both agencies would like to work together to make the river sweep initiative an annual event in the fall when the water level of the river is at its lowest and clearest.
"It's definitely something that we'd like to do again." says Tardif. "We might make a few changes to how we do it. It's a case of learning as you go."