Biography: Dr. Brian Rector Ph.D., R. Psych.

I began employment with the Government of Saskatchewan in 1981, and for 38 years functioned as director of psychology and treatment in fields such as developmental disabilities, child welfare, young offenders, and adult corrections. I have collaborated with universities in the fields of forensic psychology, mathematics, computer science and economics to incorporate leading-edge concepts, technologies, and methodologies to assist in improving human service outcomes in child welfare, justice, and policing.

Currently I am the inaugural Senior Director of the Community Solutions Accelerator, Edmonton Police Service.  The purpose of the Accelerator is to improve public safety by building upon the expertise of policing, and its history of community engagement, with formal collaborations involving experts in diverse fields from universities and corporations. By looking at information with a different set of eyes, can we improve or develop new tools and interventions that have a direct bearing on community safety- and empirically demonstrate this impact?  Some of these new tools will involve the ability to analyze multiple sources of streaming social media, with information from standard records management systems, to produce real-time insights for intervention. This idea is not new of course. But we are nowhere near what is possible, never mind what is possible tomorrow.  Clarity of purpose—improving public safety—will be the engine that will drive this development. 

It is an exciting time, and an honour, to be a section editor for the Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being. The diversity of articles submitted to the journal for consideration constantly reminds me of how complex and challenging the issues are for communities, and for those that serve.