Province Creating Provincial Protective Services Branch

Released on November 8, 2021

The province recently announced the creation of a Provincial Protective Services (PPS) Branch within the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety.

The PPS Branch will unite conservation, highway patrol, and Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Officers, inmate transport and court security deputy sheriffs, and community safety officers with the Provincial Capital Commission under a single organizational structure. 

"Creating the PPS Branch supports Saskatchewan's Growth Plan goal of building safer communities by ensuring the protection of people, natural resources and infrastructure," Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said. "This change will allow provincial enforcement agencies to work as one team and will free up policing resources to focus on protecting Saskatchewan communities."

The transition will come into effect in spring of 2022 and the Branch will become fully operational throughout 2022-23.

The creation of the PPS Branch will increase the ability of provincial enforcement officers to respond to public safety incidents and concerns and enable greater collaboration among provincial enforcement agencies and police. 

This change will also address operational gaps and jurisdictional issues that result from having provincial enforcement agencies with separate command structures. 

In the long term, the transition to a unified structure will relieve RCMP officers of their inmate transport responsibilities. These duties will be fully transferred to provincial inmate transport and court security deputy sheriffs in the PPS Branch, which will allow the RCMP to focus on their core policing mandate.

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