The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) is a non-profit corporation that brings together the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources to investigate serious and organized crime. ALERT is comprised of personnel from municipal police agencies, RCMP, and civilian staff that work together on elite teams throughout Alberta focusing on organized crime, human trafficking, auto crimes and child exploitation.

ALERT is looking for one (1) permanent, full time Pharmacologist, based out of the Edmonton office, and reporting to the Officer in Charge of the Criminal Intelligence Service Alberta (CISA).

The ALERT/CISA Pharmacologist will be responsible to bolster collaborations with outside agencies and professionals to increase ALERT’s exposure and show its commitment to combating Serious and Organized Crime outside of traditional investigative means.

This position will provide scientific support and bolster strategic intelligence with ties to the Drug Expert Program in Alberta, liaising with the DEA Profiling Program to discuss trends across the border, building stronger relationships with the Chief Toxicologist of the Alberta Medical Examiner’s Office and provide supplemental scientific support and consultation to Public Prosecution Service Canada (PPSC) and provincial Crown prosecutors.

The salary range for this position is $109,990 to $130,000 per annum.

The work arrangement for this position is in-person, on-site (not hybrid or remote).

RESPONSIBILITIES & ACTIVITIES:

Reporting to the Officer in Charge of the Criminal Intelligence Service Alberta (CISA), the duties and responsibilities of the Pharmacologist include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Providing scientific support to Law Enforcement and the Drug Expert Program in Alberta by assisting the Provincial Drug Expert Program Coordinator for Alberta (as required), reviewing reports for accuracy and scientific content, providing presentations on the pharmacology of novel psychoactive substances of relevance to law enforcement, remaining up-to-date and maintaining scientific and medical literature for use by drug experts across the province.
2. Acting as a point of contact for scientific consultation with respect to the pharmacology of drugs.
3. Providing consultation on production techniques and distribution methods of illicit drugs.
4. Ongoing consultation with Health Canada regarding the status of novel psychoactive substances that are not listed in the schedules of the CDSA (including fentanyl analogues, benzimidazole opioids and benzodiazepines), and the status of novel precursor chemicals.
5. Facilitating an understanding of the challenges law enforcement officers face with “class scheduling” or scheduling that includes derivatives, salts, salts of derivatives, and analogues (as these are not always intuitive, making it for front-line investigators to know, particularly at the time of search warrant execution in the middle of the night, whether a drug or chemical is scheduled when it is not explicitly listed in the schedules of the CDSA).
6. Liaising with DEA Profiling Chemists regarding chemical trends both domestically and internationally.
7. Liaising with Chief Toxicologist of the Alberta Medical Examiner’s Office to share information with respect to novel pharmacological findings in Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service monthly reports (with respect to analysis of drugs seized by law enforcement agencies in Alberta).
8. Providing scientific support to Public Prosecution Service Canada (PPSC) and provincial Crown Prosecutors to conduct consultations on the pharmacology of illicit drugs, conduct presentations (as needed) to assist in understanding newly identified illicit drugs/trends, prepare information packages and/or summary sheets that could be provided as reference material with respect to the most commonly encountered drugs, and provide scientific testimony (if required) in cases involving novel psychoactive substances that may be unfamiliar to Crown, council and Court.
9. Providing proactive collaboration with medical researchers with the ability to author/co-author scientific studies and papers on topics that are relevant to both medicine and law enforcement (waste water, etc.).
10. Acting as a point of contact for non-law enforcement agencies (for example: collaboration with First Nations Opioid Response Coordinators, harm reduction groups, safe consumption sites, drug checking services, city councils and other specialized committees.
11. Providing scientific support to ALERT Media Relations Office (as needed) for media requests and availabilities.
12. Providing CISA with analytical support (as needed) to compliment the provincial strategic drug intelligence market.
13. This role requires some inter-provincial travel and may require overnight stays.

DESIRED SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES:

• Ability to work independently within policies and objectives in an integrated environment;
• Ability to work with minimal supervision, displaying motivation and initiative;
• Ability to multi-task within a dynamic and challenging environment with a variety of law enforcement agencies, government and industry;
• Demonstrated strong personal work standards and self-motivation;
• Demonstrated effective time management, organization, and analytical skills;
• Proven excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills;
• Exercise initiative and judgment in achieving the desired results;

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:  

• Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy or Pharmacology (Master’s degree an asset);
• Experience preparing strategic and analytical reports;
• Working knowledge of analytical tools (iBase) and asset;
• Working knowledge of the Criminal Code of Canada/Controlled Drugs and Substance Act and in-depth knowledge of the illicit drug landscape in Alberta;
• Knowledge of the criminal intelligence cycle;
• Knowledge or experience working collaboratively with law enforcement agencies;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships to the benefit of ALERT, CISA and their clients.

The following additional experience would be considered an asset:

• Experience supporting Public Prosecution Services Canada (PPSC);
• Familiarity with providing court testimony;
• Experience working in a multi-agency environment;
• Knowledge or experience working collaboratively with law enforcement agencies;
• Experience working cooperatively in multi-disciplinary team environment.

BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH ALERT:

• Competitive salary and group retirement savings plan;
• Group benefits and health/lifestyle spending account;
• Health and well-being opportunities;
• Flexible work schedules;
• Advancement and training opportunities; and
• Vacation and paid holidays.

APPLICATIONS:

Interested candidates should forward a resume and cover letter by email to careers@alert-ab.ca and indicate “Pharmacologist” in the subject line.

The competition will close on December 1, 2023.

The successful candidate will be required to submit to and pass an RCMP security screening process. Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

ALERT is an equal opportunity employer and we encourage all candidates that meet above qualifications to submit their applications.