Plans for an Alberta police force are weakening, budget indicates: expert
The province's decision to put $9.7 million towards Grande Prairie's potential plans for a municipal service would be "contradictory" if it wanted a provincial force, an expert said
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An expert on the justice system said Tuesday’s provincial budget suggests plans for a provincial police force are losing steam.
Doug King, a professor in justice studies at Mount Royal University, said he saw the signal in $9.7 million in funding for Grande Prairie’s potential plans for its own municipal police force.
That city has expressed interest in starting its own municipal police service to replace the RCMP. Its council will vote on the matter on Monday.
“Sometimes governments do very contradictory things, but if the government was committed to the Alberta sheriff’s model that was being proposed, that would not have likely been funded,” said King.
“They would have said, we’d actually prefer you not to do municipal policing. We will move our sheriffs in and replace the RCMP.”
B.C. municipality was recently forced to raise property taxes to cover shortfalls after failing to create city police force
The provincial budget also had $65 million for existing and planned Indigenous police services around the province, including Blood Tribe Police Service and Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service. That funding will help create up to 35 new policing positions and establish new policing services on the Siksika Nation.
Although no dollar amount was given, the budget promised a “business case subsidy program” to assist other First Nations and municipalities that want to explore setting up their own police services.
King said an example in B.C. has shown the potential pitfalls of such a move. Residents in Surrey, B.C., are facing a 9.5 per cent property tax increase just to cover shortfalls after a failed attempt to remove the RCMP and bring in a city police force.
“They’re finding it’s becoming much, much more costly, and it’s taking more time to do it than the plan had originally indicated,” said King.
He said the idea of a provincial police force has polled negatively in the province since the idea was floated.
Municipalities will push provincial force as an election issue
Okotoks Mayor Tanya Thorn said there is still confusion among municipalities as to whether a provincial police force is really off the table.
Thorne, who also serves on the board of Alberta Municipalities, said Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said this week the provincial police force is still a possibility.
“From Alberta Municipalities’ perspective, we certainly will be pushing (a provincial police force) as an election issue, just to get clarity on what the intended plan is if the UCP should be re-elected in our province,” she said.
Thorn said there’s general consensus among municipalities that they want a new way of looking at community policing, rather than a change in the uniform.
“Our communities believe that what is needed right now is actually a provincewide task force that is going to look at what some of those root causes of crime are — so poverty, homelessness, mental health and addiction issues, as well as some weaknesses in the justice system — before we decide we’re just going to replace one model of policing with another,” she said.
brthomas@postmedia.com
Twitter: @brodie_thomas
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