The RCMP cast a narrow net to find a new sergeant for the Flin Flon detachment.
Mark Svaren, currently sergeant of the Creighton RCMP, is moving across the border to lead the Flin Flon detachment.
“It’s nice to not only know the members that I’ll be working with, but also to know the community,” says Svaren, a Flin Flon resident.
“It’s kind of a unique situation that I’ll find myself in, with a little bit more understanding than had I moved in from elsewhere.”
Svaren views the lateral transfer as a way to remain in Flin Flon – he and his family love the area – while experiencing something new after spending his entire 15-year career in northern Saskatchewan.
He sought out the position after learning that Shayne Smith, former sergeant of the Flin Flon detachment, had accepted a promotion to Swan River last year.
“They checked to see on their end if it would be feasible and suitable, and they found it to work both for them and for me,” Svaren says.
One of Svaren’s first orders of business in Flin Flon will be to consult with officers and city council to get a better sense of the law-enforcement challenges facing the community.
He thinks many issues are similar to those in Creighton but perhaps play out on a different scale.
Of course Svaren is no stranger to the Flin Flon RCMP, as the Flin Flon and Creighton detachments provide back-up for each other and share the latter detachment’s cells.
High-priority calls that require multiple officers, such as missing-person reports, also tend to involve members from both detachments.
Svaren describes his philosophy toward operating a detachment as one of ensuring background details are covered so members “can be on the streets and do what the community needs of them.”
Originally from the Saskatchewan village of Loreburn, he is as busy at home as he is on the job, heading a blended family that includes five children as young as 5.
Svaren has been sergeant of the Creighton detachment since October 2010. His proposed date to transfer to Flin Flon is April 4. There’s no official word yet on his replacement.
