Alberta Police Act

The Alberta Police Act is an act of the Assembly of Alberta governing the constitution and authorities of all civilian law enforcement agencies within the Canadian province of Alberta, including the Alberta Sheriff's Office (Alberta's provincial police).

According to the Act, all counties of Alberta are required to establish an elected police board, which is responsible for supervising and which acts as the formal employer of the respective county constabulary. Each police board must appoint one of its members as chairperson, who is officially called the "Police and Crime Commissioner" (PCC); the county constabulary's chief constable is accountable to the police board via the PCC, who appoints the chief constable.

The Alberta Sheriff's Office (the provincial police), according to the Alberta Police Act, is directly answerable to the Attorney General of Alberta, with the Ministry of Justice of Alberta (chaired by the Attorney General) acting as the de facto police board of the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction in all parts of the province, but county constabularies have priority of authority for all matters limited to their respective county; policing which extends to two or more counties or the province as a whole automatically comes under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff's Office, which may direct all relevant county constabularies to assist with operations.