Local politicians are giving a mixed review to whether or not a provincial police force as suggested by the Alberta government is a good idea or not.
Under the proposed model released by Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Tyler Shandro on Aug. 16, community detachments serving small municipalities and rural or remote areas would be the backbone of an Alberta Police Service.
“Under the current model, there is no minimum number of front-line officers; some detachments have as few as three officers,” stated a government press release. Under an Alberta Police Service, community detachments will be guaranteed a minimum of 10 front-line police officers.”
In the first of a series of webinars hosted by the province Aug. 22, three speakers spoke in favour of the idea, repeating some of the key points used by the government.
The government claims a new provincial police force would allow Alberta to increase the amount of police officers working in the smallest detachments, increase front-line response by reducing the number of police officers deployed in headquarters and administrative roles, and provide better access to specialist policing services in rural and remote areas of Alberta.
Shandro claimed they would able to add 275 front-line police officers to the smallest 42 detachments by taking this action.
Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie said although all the details were not yet known, the idea has merit. He said when his United Conservative Party (UCP) came into power after the 2019 election, rural crime was a big issue.
“It was something we needed to tackle and boy oh boy did we hear it from rural Albertans. So it was something we did jump on and needed to investigate,” he said.
No decisions have been made, Guthrie stressed, but in order to discuss the issue, the background work had to be done first.
“This is just about putting some preparation in place so a future government has something at their disposal to examine,” he added.
Guthrie said it’s an issue provincial governments have been looking at for decades, and that federal government research has suggested the provinces should be looking at taking over sole responsibility for policing as federal policing contracts come up for renewal in 2032.
In that context, doing the exploratory work just makes sense, he argued.
“So it may be something we’ll have to deal with in the not-too-distant future anyway,” he said.
Guthrie said a packed public forum on rural crime in Airdrie was an “eye-opening experience” for him back in 2019.
Adversely, recently nominated NDP candidate for Airdrie-Cochrane Shaun Fluker said the idea of a provincial police force is not something he’s heard any concern about as he’s knocked on doors in the riding.
“And that correlates to what we’ve heard across the province,” he said. “This is an idea that nobody wants.”
Fluker noted that the early stages of any provincial force would cost about $350 million just to get off the ground, not counting what the ongoing operating costs would amount to.
He called that a large sum of money that could be more usefully directed toward issues like health care or legal aid.
“The UCP is willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a police force nobody wants but they won’t properly fund legal aid,” Fluker said.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for The Town of Cochrane said, at this time, the municipality has not had a chance to thoroughly review the information released by the Province and specifically look to understand any possible local impacts.
“This is something we will be working to complete in coming weeks,” the statement read.
Earlier this year the Rural Municipalities of Alberta supported keeping the RCMP and opposed the idea of a provincial police force. At the time they said the government has failed to demonstrate how service levels would be enhanced.
The government is re-floating the idea after an independent report they received last fall outlined some of the issues. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report said it costs Alberta about $500 million a year for the RCMP. The federal government contributes about $170 million under a cost-sharing agreement.
The PWC report indicated if Alberta decides to go it alone, it would cost about $735 million each year, on top of $366 million in start-up costs.
At a UCP leadership debate on June 23, former finance minister Travis Toews, who is running for the UCP leadership, said that a provincial police force will “cost Albertans a little bit more.”
The report also outlines how an Alberta police service would extend dedicated support to self-administered First Nations police services, making it easier for more First Nations to establish and maintain their own self-administered First Nations police services.
Alberta’s government hasn’t made a decision about establishing a police service as of writing, but the report outlines the broad strokes of how it could happen.
