Premier Smith ‘inaccurate’ in criticism of RCMP staffing: Alberta Mounties
Posted September 27, 2024 3:39 pm.
Alberta RCMP fired back at Premier Danielle Smith Friday in response to her criticism that the service is not properly staffing rural areas.
Smith confirmed Thursday in Red Deer that the province now has two police forces: RCMP and Alberta Sheriffs.
READ MORE: Alberta has ‘2 provincial police forces’ Smith says, while suggesting new sheriff detachments
The premier then suggested the Mounties gave her no choice but to expand the numbers and duties of sheriffs.
“The reason we’re doing it is because the RCMP has not been able to fulfill the need that we have,” Smith told reporters in response to a question from CityNews.
“We pay for 1,911 [RCMP] officers and they have 400 or 500 vacancies. We cannot allow for rural municipalities to be under policed and so we have trained up our sheriffs, so they have the same training as police.”
Smith made those statements shortly after delivering an address to local leaders at the Alberta Municipalities Convention.
A statement from RCMP at 11 a.m. Friday said Smith “made some remarks about the Alberta RCMP and its current state that are inaccurate.”
“Despite continuous communications with our provincial partners, the current strength of Alberta RCMP officers is regularly miscommunicated, as is our current vacancy rate in provincial policing [this excludes municipal policing contracts which are contracts in place with municipalities for their policing services],” the statement alleged.
The RCMP says there are 1,772 officer positions in Alberta’s provincial policing contract and there are 306 vacancies.
“Of those positions, 124 are currently unfilled. The other 182 are officers who are not currently at work for a variety of reasons, including illness, maternity-related leave, and other special leave,” the RCMP stated.
“These are statistics that are shared with our provincial partners every month.”
The Mounties acknowledged recruiting and retention are “substantial concerns for citizens” but said they are not the only policing agency struggling to bring in new officers.
The RCMP added they have recently “undertaken a massive recruiting campaign” and have seen an increase in applicants by 77 per cent over the last five years.
“The employees of the Alberta RCMP are fiercely proud of the policing services they provide to Albertans,” said Deputy Commissioner Rob Hill, Commanding Officer of the Alberta RCMP.
“We are here to serve and protect Albertans, and we will continue to do so with dedication and integrity.”
Smith insisted that changes to policing are what rural Albertans want.
She offered the example of Grande Prairie deciding to replace the RCMP with their own local police as an example and said as many as 20 other communities have expressed interest in doing the same.
“The people to ask are the people who are being policed by the RCMP,” added Smith.
“The people who are being policed by the RCMP are demonstrating to us, through the decisions they’re making, that they’re very interested in looking at an option that will make sense for them.”
Smith and the UCP have been increasing the power of sheriffs for months, recently adding a new fugitive team in Calgary and new surveillance units in rural Alberta, despite several surveys of Albertans and resolutions from local politicians opposing a provincial police force.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis has stated sheriffs need to be ready for more responsibilities in case the RCMP pulls out of contract policing when its deal with Alberta expires in 2032.
CityNews reached out to the premier’s office for a response to the RCMP’s statement.
