Estevan Police Chief excited with new opportunities with Saskatchewan Marshals Service position

Estevan's Police Chief is moving into a new role at the end of summer with Rich Lowen becoming the Deputy Chief of the Saskatchewan Marshals Service (SMS).

The SMS has been setting up over the past years, to serve as an additional force that would help out Saskatchewan's police services when serious crimes happen.

Lowen will be moving out to Prince Albert following his last day on August 31 to help establish the SMS.

"It's a chance to look after operations for the new service and I'll be using the experience that I've gained over the many years, we'll be setting up the service and working throughout the province."

The new experience will be good, says Lowen.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to step into something that's brand new. It's one of those unique experiences that you don't get to do very often. So it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I'm happy to jump in and support the Saskatchewan Marshall Services that moves forward."

Since 2021 Lowen has served the Estevan community as its Police Chief, and he says the time has been well spent.

"I always say thank you to the community. Their support has been so welcomed and appreciated over the past three years. They have a great service here and they should be proud of the service they have and the members of the service here are really, really professional and a good quality of policing for the community. So I'd say thank you to the community, say thanks to the members, and I know they're going to do well because I know they have a lot of support behind them."

With the SMS getting established it's brought up the possibility of having offices in other communities, though Lowen can't yet confirm if we'd see one in Estevan.

"It's still getting figured out. They'll start looking at crime statistics across the province to see where they can establish their field offices. I'm not familiar with the locations yet, those still have to be determined, and the nice part is they have the ability to work anywhere in the province. So if Estevan needs something and the Marshall service can come down and assist the Estevan police as well."

Lowen says he's hoping the SMS can provide quality policing for the whole province.

"It's going to be, I think a really good step in in advancing policing in the province and I think it's going to be a benefit to the entire province in terms of law enforcement and support."