‘No meat to this bone’: Concerns about cost of Alberta provincial police

While Alberta’s justice minister said it is “cost-effective” and the premier said it is “compelling”, there are lots of doubts rising around the idea of establishing a provincial police force.

A long-awaited report on the proposal, which was commissioned following a recommendation from the Fair Deal Panel, was released on Friday to largely underwhelming reviews.

RELATED: Provincial police force would be beneficial to Albertans: report

The cost of the proposed service raised a lot of eyebrows, because at best, it would be equal or only slightly cheaper than the current RCMP model for many rural communities. When you factor in transitional costs and the loss of federal funding, it works out to be an extremely costly endeavour.

“There’s just no meat to this bone,” read a statement from National Police Federation President Brian Sauvé.

The Federation has been lodging a campaign against the provincial police proposal, pointing mainly to the loss of federal funding as a detractor. Under the current system, the federal government foots around $170 million dollars of policing costs to make it more affordable for communities.

There has been no concrete explanation as to how the province will make that up under a provincial force.

A lack of clarity on finances raises eyebrows as well, including for Mount Royal University criminologist Doug King.

“I was a little bit mystified by some of the financial information. They report that the cost of provincial policing in Alberta is currently about $785 million, but that also includes the Alberta Sheriffs and that has nothing to do with the RCMP,” he said. “It also doesn’t take into account how much the federal government contributes to those costs.”

Staffing the ranks is also a major question mark, as the report proposed an increase of over 100 front line officers over the RCMP system. Minister Kaycee Madu could also not provide a concrete suggestion on how to gain those officers, and how to staff the service in the first place.

Examples from the past also do not paint a rosy picture on this proposal.

“The Surrey Police Service believed that they were going to attract a lot of members coming over from the RCMP to join the new Surrey police force. A survey conducted with the members there showed that very few were actually interested in that, and as a result, they’re struggling for numbers as well,” said Kevin Halwa, Prairie/North Region Director for the National Police Federation. “I think it’s a little bit presumptuous to think that there’s going to be a lot of members from Alberta that want to join a new police force.”

Halwa said police services all around the continent are struggling for recruitment, and it’s hard to believe it would be different for Alberta. In the example of Surrey, their police service is not expected to be fully operational until 2022, even though the policing contract with the RCMP technically expired in the spring of 2021.

King said the plan shown in the report is incredibly ambitious, and he is happy to see a comprehensive report be done on the subject. That said, there are doubts this would even change much for Albertans, especially those in rural communities.

But other plans around improving oversight and establishing police commissions to create more accountability is a positive idea, said King, and these are things that have been needed for some time.

Apart from some of the other finer points in the report, it seems the proposed model fits within what the RCMP already provides, with the National Police Federation adding that this report goes as far as to back up their points.

“To our surprise, the report appears to recommend implementing a policing model that is currently in place,” said Halwa.

Further on the staffing, Halwa said the desired addition of front line officers could just be handled by the RCMP — and it would cost less.

“We can get members, and with the current agreement with the federal government, the province can do it at 70 cents on the dollar to get a member,” he said. “I’m not sure where you shop, but if I can save 30 per cent on something, that sounds like a good deal.”

There are also suspicions arising that this has an ideological bent, as King suggested.

“Much of this discussion has a value in governments trying to get re-elected and oftentimes the heavy lifting will be after the next provincial election,” he said. “Thankfully, the political dimension is not in the report.”

One small town mayor came out again to re-up his opposition to the idea following the release of the report.

https://twitter.com/kevinzahara/status/1454144177919250433?s=20

“This idea is driven by ideology,” wrote Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara, as he reposted a letter he sent to Minister Madu in May.

The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association said it still needs some time to go over the details of the report, but suggest it should not be a decision left up to politicians.

“The AUMA maintains that a fair and democratic referendum on the establishment of a provincial police service should occur if the Government of Alberta decides it wants to go this route. Premier Jason Kenney said as much in November 2019, and we expect him to honour his commitment,” read a statement.

The lack of enthusiasm from communities was matched in engagement done by the National Police Federation.

“In the past several months, we’ve met with over 70 municipalities and municipal leaders. Not a single one of those people have told us that they’re in support of a move to a provincial police force,” said Halwa.

The province promises further engagement over the coming year before making any more decisions, and King noted that it seemed a little bit odd that there wasn’t more discussion held as part of the report being commissioned in the first place, as this could also cast doubt on it actually going to a referendum.

“Seems to me maybe the government doesn’t want to roll that dice.”