Burnaby Considers Replacing the RCMP with Municipal/Regional Police

[Wetcoaster]

Burnaby was unhappy to sign on to the latest 20 year contract with the RCMP however there is an opt out clause upon two years notice. Burnaby is looking at the feasibility and cost of going with its own municipal force or possibly sharing policing services with New Westminster who already have a municipal police force in place.

Other municipalities are also looking at opting out of the RCMP contract including Port Coquitlam, North Vancouver District, North Vancouver City and Richmond.

The move is long past due to send this horribly broken and dysfunctional organization on its way out of BC.

Burnaby is continuing to look at policing alternatives to the RCMP after being forced by the province to sign what it considered a less-than-palatable 20-year contract last June.

The RCMP contract includes an opt-out clause in which participating municipalities would need to give two-years notice before changing to a different policing system.

But first, Burnaby and several other cities are studying the feasibility and ramifications of such a change.

Burnaby city staff are working with counterparts in Port Coquitlam, North Vancouver District, North Vancouver City and Richmond on the study, using a 10-year-old Surrey study as a baseline to start.

The focus has been on what the real costs are to leave the RCMP, including transition costs, the annual costs of running their own police department, and the cost of potential mergers of police forces, said Mayor Derek Corrigan.

"I also think, to be honest, it's an effort to try to get the RCMP to understand how dissatisifed we are with the way the relationship has operated between us, the provincial government and Ottawa."

Corrigan stressed that the cities have great relationships at the detachment level.

"Where we have problems, where we have the disconnect is with Ottawa and the fact they are constantly dictating edicts to the municipalities and to their own departments that cause us a lot of expense and concern. And that often they're done without any notice and without any consideration of the impact on local budgets."

He cited as an example the new $1.2-billion RCMP E Division headquarters being built in Surrey's Green Timbers area "and the fact we're expected to pay for part of that facility but we never asked for it, we never negotiated it, we're left to simply do as we're told and that's just not good enough."

As for possible policing partnerships for Burnaby, Corrigan said New Westminster "would be the most natural one."

Burnaby city staff are examining the possibility and whether growing an existing police department would be better and less expensive than starting their own, he said, noting much of the necessary infrastructure already exists in the Royal City.

"I think in the long run it would likely be a big advantage to New Westminster to spread the costs more broadly, but those are questions that both of us will have to answer through our staff."

He stressed that New Westminster has yet to take a position on the idea and the two cities would have to get into more serious discussions.

But Corrigan believes that city would be a much more natural fit than Vancouver.

"When you partner with a city as big as Vancouver with as many issues as Vancouver, the likelihood that we would have a lot of resources taken to service Downtown Vancouver would be problematic," he said.

"I think there's a much more even sort of relationship between New Westminster and Burnaby in the sense that we're operating in four town centres and New Westminster is like another town centre for policing purposes."

The study is slated to take 6 months and is expected to be completed early next year.

http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/news/175861801.html

[Rhinogator]

???? best news I've heard all day.

[ronthecivil]

Heck just merge Burnaby and New West outright.

What we really need is a GVRD police force but there's no way that's going to happen. (Heck I would love to see the GVRD torn in two!).

[aGENT]

Folks finally starting to catch on eh....

[canuck_trevor16]

a Metro Vancouver Police force minus city of Vancouver Police force? something like Scotland Yard? that does not cover city of London?

[Common sense]

Who bears the brunt of the costs in setting up the force, hiring officers, and building new police centres? Also, how will this change the information shared between groups like the VPD and RCMP detachments in say Richmond or Surrey?

[Dazzle]

"He cited as an example the new $1.2-billion RCMP E Division headquarters being built in Surrey's Green Timbers area "and the fact we're expected to pay for part of that facility but we never asked for it, we never negotiated it, we're left to simply do as we're told and that's just not good enough."

I just saw this building today. Fantastic looking building.

[canuck_trevor16]

"He cited as an example the new $1.2-billion RCMP E Division headquarters being built in Surrey's Green Timbers area "and the fact we're expected to pay for part of that facility but we never asked for it, we never negotiated it, we're left to simply do as we're told and that's just not good enough."

I just saw this building today. Fantastic looking building.

[Lancaster]

Sorry to sound naive.... but shouldn't Burnaby have been researching this like a year or two before the RCMP contract got renewed?

[Wetcoaster]

Sorry to sound naive.... but shouldn't Burnaby have been researching this like a year or two before the RCMP contract got renewed?

[Jägermeister]

Would be a step in the right direction.

As mentioned previously, a GVRD police force would be something I wouldn't mind seeing one day.

[JaGuaR]

When Kash Heed was Solicitor General he commissioned a study to look at the cost of taking over policing in BC by a combination of municipal/metro regional forces for urban areas and a BC Police service for rural and outlying areas. After Heed left Cabinet over election expense problems, that study never saw the light of day.

[Wetcoaster]

I find it amusing that it was an RCMP investigation that forced Kash Heed to step down.

[ronthecivil]

And special Crown prosecutors found no basis for criminal charges as result of the RCMP investigations.

[canuck_trevor16]

if an Metro Vancouver Regional force is created would it merge with the municipal PD that are not part of the RCMP like Vancouver? I think Vancouver should be separated, it the biggest city in the Lower Mainland should it just stay separated......this is be few years down the road until anything like this happen......Does regional force also cover provincial crimes as well as municipal crimes.....

There is still questions where the officers will come from? Surely not the RCMP? Recruit them from military or border service perhaps?

[Ghostsof1915]

Bring back the BC Provincial Police. Then we can watch the watchmen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Provincial_Police

[Snake Doctor]

The RCMP has turned into the most corrupt orgainization in this country. British Columbia needs a provincial police force that we can monitor.

[Ghostsof1915]

It stems from the fact the officers in the RCMP make an oath to the corps, not to protecting and defending the general public.

It might not seem like much, but it makes a difference.

[Wetcoaster]

The RCMP has turned into the most corrupt orgainization in this country. British Columbia needs a provincial police force that we can monitor.

[hudson bay rules]

no idea behind the costs etc but my own personal exp over many many years is that the RCMP is way better than the West Van, Vancouver or New West coppers.