Residents of Drayton Valley will soon be able to find out what a provincial police force would mean for them.
The National Police Federation (NPF) has been touring the province, conducting town hall meetings, collecting public feedback on the Government of Alberta’s plan to potentially replace the RCMP with a provincial police force.
As part of their Fair Deal Panel, the provincial government had accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) put together a report studying how the transition would work.
NPF spokesperson Kevin Halwa says the report is somewhat vague on the details. First up is how the Province is going to pay for it.
“The plan itself – the PWC Report – admits that moving to a provincial police force will cost millions more dollars each and every year. The government has not indicated at all where that money is going to come from,” says Halwa.
Another factor is that Albertans currently overwhelming support the RCMP. The NPF’s polls show that Alberta’s support for the RCMP is over 80 per cent.
“But you do not have to take our word for it,” explains Halwa. “Their report themselves suggests similar numbers. That the support for the RCMP is amazing.”
The Province has also suggested that an Alberta Provincial Police Force would be better equipped to tackle the issues of rural crime. According to Halwa, the plan outlined in the PWC report only puts slightly more officers in Alberta. If the problem is a lack of officers in the field, Halwa says the Justice Minister already has the tools to deal with that.
“It is totally up to the minister if those numbers increase or decrease,” clarifies Halwa. “So if he wants to put more police officers in those areas, to decrease rural response time, he can do that.”
Halwa sums up that people in Alberta feel like the Province is not listening to them on this issue, and that there has been a lack of public consultation.
Which is why the NPF put together this tour, he points out. The NPF is the RCMP’s union, and they are building support for keeping the RCMP in Alberta.
Their community engagement tour will be coming into Drayton Valley on Feb. 18. To register for the tour, or to find out more, you can visit www.keepalbertarcmp.ca.
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