Past Recipients

2018 Recipient: Staff Sergeant James Clover, Edmonton Police Service

From left to right: Chief Jean-Michel Blais, Staff Sergeant James Clover

For over 20 years, Staff Sergeant James Clover has been sharing his personal knowledge, best practices and police experience with international partners. The impact and influence of his expertise and contributions in the areas of the mental health and safety of police officers, community safety, and a movement to highlight the intersection between public health and crime, are acknowledged around the world.

Very early in his career, Sergeant Clover was deployed as an undercover operator for a joint-forces investigation that targeted weapons trafficking in Alberta. His two years as part of this unit had a significant impact on his health and well-being. After a diagnosis of combat stress disorder (pre-PTSD), Sergeant Clover focused on healing himself and educating the police industry on the risks of emotional casualty for employees in covert work. He bridged the disciplines of academia, health practitioners and managers within law enforcement to employ improved screening and support services for those officers deployed in long-term operations. He has shared his research and experiences with police agencies in Canada and around the world to improve the training and after-care of officers involved in covert operations.

In 2006, Sergeant Clover was introduced to community corrections where he advocated for collaborative policing efforts and a multi-disciplinary approach to offender management and public safety. As the team commander for the Behavioural Assessment Unit within the Edmonton Police Service, this award-winning police leader delivered new responses to manage risk that offenders transitioning out of incarceration posed to themselves and the community. He leveraged alternative funding solutions and well-established international partnerships to deploy several programs including transitional beds for those high-risk offenders not under immediate governmental care, the use of electronic monitoring as an additional source of guardianship and leveraging Peace Bonds and community treatment orders to aid offenders in their recovery and improvement plans.

In 2013, Sergeant Clover shifted his focus to exploring policing as a contributory agent to the collective public health with the strong belief that a healthy community is a safe community. As a keynote speaker and advisor around the world, Sergeant Clover has been promoting the humane and supportive benefits for treatment sentences for offenders managing substance abuse, sexual deviance, or other mental health issues.