Photo Courtesy EverythingGP Staff

By Tanner Smith

Municipal Police Force

City Council to vote on a Municipal Police Force Monday

Mar 6, 2023 | 6:00 AM

City Council will vote on whether to go through with a transition from RCMP to a Municipal Police Force at Monday’s meeting.

Council has priced this out to cost $19 million over five years, with $9.7 million coming from the provincial government.

This proposed transition has been years in the making, first coming to fruition from a Police Model Review, that was proposed in 2020.

It was then brought back to council’s attention when previous Premier Jason Kenny and his then-UCP caucus proposed a Provincial Police Force in 2021.

It wasn’t until September of 2022 when City Council announced the allocation of $250,000 from a reserve fund to come up with a transition and public consultation plan for a possible Municipal Police Force for Grande Prairie.

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Council then asked for public feedback regarding the transition in December 2022, in which residents could fill out an online survey, interviews, focus groups, stakeholder meetings, and public open house events, which were also part of the consultation process.

The City then asked the public for feedback again, asking residents to attend the public open houses, which took place in January 2023.

However, responses were low only generating 758 survey responses and 88 public open house attendees.

Council then held a meeting on February 21, going over the Police Model Review, which they set aside $250,000 to have done back in September 2022.

During the Council Meeting, MNP and Executive Director of Emergency Services Chris Manual presented their findings to council, which was then deliberated on for a long period of time before being tabled for their next City Council meeting on March 6.

The next day – February 22- provincial representatives, Grande Prairie MLA and Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews, and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis held a news conference with Mayor Jackie Clayton to announce $9.7 million in funding over two years to help transition to the proposed Municipal Police Force.

Following that announcement controversy regarding the proposal grew as residents wondered who would get stuck paying the remaining $10 million and the tax implications it would have on the city.

Along with people being worried about council only polling less than one per cent of Grande Prairie’s population, the National Police Federation released a statement addressing just that, along with a message for the provincial government; ” The NPF recommends the Government of Alberta instead make much-needed investments to bolster the RCMP in Alberta.”

Another local group has emerged in the past few days called the ‘ Peace Country Progressive Alliance’ and it has drafted a letter addressing concerns over this proposed municipal police force and has made it accessible to other residents to edit and change before being sent off to City Council.

If you would like to view the letter, click here.

Council has a Council Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Monday, where they will be hosting a finance Q&A regarding the transition to a Municipal Police Force.

That will be followed by a Council Meeting at 3:00 p.m.