Policing costs to soar

It’s what prompted the Mayor of Kelowna to ink a letter to the federal government with a number of municipal signatories, including the City of Prince George’s mayor. The letter reads, in part:

“Over the years our cities have invested significantly in the RCMP by hiring more officers and support staff, and our Councils have prioritized community safety in decision making. We value the important work members do to keep our citizens and communities safe and support their right to collective bargaining including being paid competitively in relation to other police forces in Canada.”

“The much higher than anticipated financial implications come at a time when municipalities are grappling with economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with significant impacts on all our public safety resources due to homelessness and the opioid epidemic.”

The letter seeks equal cost-sharing of the retroactive portion of the contract.

Council endorsed the letter, but Councillor Kyle Sampson wanted to go one better.

“The motion I put was to submit another letter to the federal government on behalf of the City of Prince George. And it would request a meeting with the federal government, Justin Trudeau and his group, so we can explain our case,” he says. “We can explain how this is damaging to the City of Prince George.”

And then to ask for relief that’s greater than fifty-fifty split sought by the Kelowna letter signatories.

Sampson says he has been getting calls for Prince George to pursue what the City of Surrey did: Create its own municipal police force. Not so fast, says Sampson. The costs are astronomical.

“Not only just the start-up cost but the operations are more expensive. We’re talking about not having national resources to draw on, such as the research, the analysts, and the data. We’d have to create our own training program, our own training facility and recruitment programs, and retention programs.”

The Union of BC Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities are also demanding reconsideration of how local governments bear this burden.

by Cheryl Jahn

Policing costs to soar

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