Provincial police force could cost much more than estimated, argues National Police Federation

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on August 19, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

After the United Conservative Party government outlined its blueprint for more police in rural Alberta on Tuesday, the National Police Federation reiterated the fact that many municipalities are opposed as shown in recent research conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights.

“There was no new information, what it did was to continue to confuse Albertans with information that the government still doesn’t have,” said Kevin Halwa, prairie regional director of the National Police Federation.

He said during their announcement they cut questions regarding where the money will come from to pay for the transition, as well as questions regarding recruitment, leaving Albertans with more questions than answers.

“The government still doesn’t have answers for those questions and that is concerning,” said Halwa.

He said those questions have been asked since the very beginning and they have yet to be answered to anyone’s satisfaction.

“But if they do, they are not sharing them and hanging onto it like the Colonel’s 11 herbs and spices, they are keeping that very close to the shop,” said Halwa.

He said one thing that is also concerning is the timing of the announcement.

“The fact that they’re even doing this now, as far as the website and doing more press conferences and sending out more information, that kind of stuff, during the last days of summer when there is no clear new premier chosen is also concerning,” said Halwa.

The Alberta government continues to make its case for a provincial police force, saying it would add hundreds of front-line officers to small detachments.

Justice Minister Tyler Shandro said the idea of a provincial police force isn’t something new, nor should the public be concerned.

“The biggest point I would really like to drive home for all Albertans is both Quebec and Ontario have their own provincial police service and look, their provinces have not collapsed,” said Shandro.

When asked about the comparison made by Minister Shandro, Halwa said there was no point of comparison since the situation is different.

“What they neglect to point out is that they (Ontario and Quebec) have always had a provincial police service, that existed long before the RCMP,” said Halwa.

He said that neither Ontario or Quebec transitioned away from the RCMP since they always had their provincial police service.

“What he also neglects to point out is the provincial policing budget in both those provinces, which is astronomical compared to what we are currently paying here in Alberta for policing,” said Halwa.

He also mentioned the fact that there is a big difference in sales taxes between Alberta and Ontario/Quebec.

“I don’t think that is something the people of Alberta would be interested in, in order to be able to afford provincial policing services,” said Halwa.

The government is deciding its next steps after the release of a third-party analysis last fall of the proposal for an Alberta-run provincial police force to replace RCMP in rural areas and some smaller cities.

The PriceWaterhouseCoopers report said it currently costs Alberta about $500 million a year for the RCMP. Ottawa chips in $170 million under a cost-sharing agreement.

That report said if Alberta decides to go it alone, it would cost about $735 million each year, on top of $366 million in startup costs.

Halwa provided the example of the city of Surrey which is transitioning at the moment.

“To put it into perspective, the city of Surrey who is also going through a transition right now from the RCMP to a municipal police service, their transition costs were originally estimated at $19 million. Post transition costs are now north of $80 million and still growing and they’re still nowhere close to being finished,” said Halwa.

He said that is 400 per cent over what their original estimate was.

Halwa pointed out that the cost was for only a city and said that comparing it to transitioning a whole province, the cost would be exponentially higher.

“In the city of Surrey we are talking about half a million people, in the province of Alberta we are talking about 4.4 million people. About 3.1 million are policed by the RCMP, give or take. The city of Surrey was one location, the province of Alberta is 17 locations,” said Halwa.

He said something else the government failed to share with Albertans is the fact that under the Provincial Police Services agreement, Article 5, the provincial minister is given authority to increase or decrease the size of the force. Halwa said the provincial minister could ask the federal government for extra members and the federal government would have a deadline to have those members on the street.

“The huge difference is that using the current model, with the RCMP being the provincial police of choice in Alberta, the federal government picks up 30 per cent of the tab, so that is a lot of money that would be left off the table and Alberta taxpayers would have to pick up the tab,” said Halwa.

He said the government failed to recognize Article 6.1 of the agreement.

“It clearly says the provincial minister will set the objectives and priorities and goals for the police force. There is no discussion, if the provincial minister wants something to be a priority he can do that,” said Halwa.

He said that is how crime reduction units were created across the province and as a result there was a steep decline in rural crime.

“There is a pile of mechanisms inside the current agreement that the government can use to address the issues that they want to address, without starting from scratch,” said Halwa.

– with files from Canadian Press

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