A new police agency has been operating in Saskatchewan for about a year now, but what makes its policing different from municipal services or the RCMP?
The Saskatchewan Marshals Service (SMS) is a provincial police service focused on targeting specific crimes, including tracking down prolific offenders, investigating cases involving correctional facilities and more.
Born and raised in Moose Jaw, Payton Longworth is proud to join the new police agency.
“Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a police officer. It was a dream of mine growing up and I’m just thankful that the Saskatchewan Marshals Service gave me an opportunity,” he said.
Longworth, who recently graduated from the Saskatchewan Police College, is one of two new recruits for the service. He said he chose the marshals as a career because of his interest in more complex policing.
“I just wanted to have a bigger variety and serve the community in a different way,” Longworth said. “That goes beyond just 911 calls and calls for service, but a little bit more high end. I thought it was a good learning opportunity to really expand and grow as a police officer.”
Marshals core responsibility
The marshals have a specialized mandate focused on providing preventative and proactive law enforcement.
“We are looking at things like high-risk, high-impact crime … drug dealing, gangs, illegal weapons. It could be human trafficking. It’s not limited by any one thing,” explained Chief Marshal Robert Cameron, adding the marshals have the same authority as municipal police officers do.
When you call 911, a marshal will not be the first person on the scene.
Instead, marshals are working in conjunction with police services in the Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and North Battleford areas.
“We spend a lot of time looking on and developing our techniques to locate people, working with our policing partners, working with different agencies to be able to locate people, but also just doing that on the ground police work and talking to folks to find out where somebody might be,” said Cameron.
A new area of focus the service has expanded to is investigating cases from correctional facilities across the province.
“We’re providing support to our policing colleagues and our law enforcement colleagues,” Cameron explained. “What that will do is allow those police services of jurisdiction to redeploy those officers that may have had to go to the correctional facility, and they’ll be able to now go back into frontline duty while we take on some of those files.”
So far, about 30 members have been hired — 18 of whom are police. Other members are part of administration for needs inside of policing, procurement, human resources and logistics.
Those selected for the marshals receive the same training as other police in the province, some graduating from Saskatchewan Police College or the RCMP Training Academy.
Pranshul Katoch, a recent police college graduate, was hired fresh out of school.
Katoch moved from India to Saskatchewan in 2021. Before gaining interest in the marshals, he served as a correctional officer at Prince Albert’s penitentiary.
“I think serving in a community which gave me a lot is the best thing I can do,” Katoch said. “That’s the main reason I joined the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.”
Growing up in a family with a background in military service, Katoch said wearing a uniform has always appealed to him.
“My grandparent, he served in the army and on my mom’s side (her) father, he also served in the army,” Katoch said. “I grew up listening to stories about law enforcement, how they served. Listening to their stories, I was always drawn (to) public safety.”
Plans to build a 70-member force
Operating since 2022, the new law enforcement agency is working towards building a 70-member force made up of new and experienced police officers.
Insp. James Repesse served as a member for the Saskatoon Police Services for 23 years before retiring.
“I retired and subsequently a couple of years after that, after the marshals started, I became interested in getting back into law enforcement and started my career here again,” said Repesse, who now works as the field training supervisor with the marshals.
With overseeing the new recruits and field training officers, Repesse said a mix of people with different experiences are needed for the service.
“Obviously, when you’re starting on a police service, there’s a lot of knowledge that is required for policing. We tend to get those from some experience places, but myself and some of the other retired members that came from other services can lend some insight in regards to policy procedures that happened in their services,” said Repesse.
“In regards to new recruits, you’re always going to need new members to fill in those roles when people like myself and others move on to retirement or to somewhere else.”
The Saskatchewan Marshals Service is an independent police service that reports to the Minister of Community Safety. It was first announced by the Government of Saskatchewan in 2022 and has been operating since spring 2025.
With files from Gareth Dillistone
