Every once in a while, the topic rears its head on whether cities like Burnaby should consider dumping the RCMP and move to a municipal police force.
But as Richmond takes a serious look at the issue, it doesn’t appear the Burnaby Mounties will be riding off into the sunset anytime soon.
Mayor Derek Corrigan said the city is interested in the results from Richmond, but there are no plans to follow suit and consider a change in policing.
He said if the city was not getting the service it wanted from the RCMP, the municipality would look at an alternative, but instead he praised the local force for providing excellent service to Burnaby.
The mayor said the city had briefly looked at a change a few years back but found transition costs were too expensive.
“It’s significantly more expensive to go through the transition, and that’s what I think makes everybody very hesitant about moving over to that model,” he told the NOW, noting the annual cost for a municipal force would only be about 10 per cent more than using RCMP.
Corrigan said he’s not convinced the transition costs have changed much in recent years to make the switch desirable.
Earlier this month, the City of Richmond underwent consultation with residents pertaining to keeping the RCMP or establishing a new municipal police force.
The Richmond News reported the city’s mayor, Malcolm Brodie, had stated residents would have to contrast paying more money for a municipal force with having a local detachment where decisions are being made in Ottawa and “very often there’s no consultation, no discussion, or even any considerations at a local level.”
Corrigan seemed to agree, suggesting the problems with RCMP arise with decisions in Ottawa, adding local decisions in the detachment are always of high quality.
Under the current RCMP contract signed in 2012, the city covers 90 per cent of police costs, with Ottawa picking up the other 10 per cent.
The city’s 2016 budget has policing costs pegged at $44.7 million.
The NOW reached out to a few councillors to get their opinion about the RCMP and the municipal force.
Coun. Nick Volkow said he agreed with Richmond’s mayor about the relationship between the municipalities and Ottawa, adding he believes Burnaby would be better off with a municipal force.
“The reality is all the decisions are taken in Ottawa, and very few of any consequence are taken here locally, so that’s the issue,” he said, adding that he has nothing but respect for the frontline RCMP.
Coun. Sav Dhaliwal said he is be interested to see what Richmond comes up with but doesn’t feel a pressing need to change forces.
“I personally don’t see any reasons for us to be pursuing that,” he said. “We have a very good police force that works with us on issues.”
While Dhaliwal noted the costs for policing have gone up in Burnaby, he suggested that’s also been the case for cities with municipal police forces.
