Grande Prairie RCMP

By Liam Verster

Policing in Grande Prairie

City of Grande Prairie orders police model review while bolstering Outreach program staff

Nov 18, 2020 | 1:07 PM

The City of Grande Prairie will allocate some funds to review the current police model, while also opting out of hiring additional RCMP members next year to instead increase Mobile Outreach Program staffing.

During Budget 2021 deliberations, the City decided that $150,000 should be allocated towards a review of the current RCMP model, and what options the City could have should they replace the RCMP with a municipal force.

Councillor Dylan Bressey says he hopes that a cost analysis is done as part of the review.

“A big reason municipalities have traditionally gone with RCMP is because it’s been cheaper than running a municipal force,” says Bressey. “[But] I actually think it might be more expensive than municipal forces with the millions of dollars in increases we see year over year. So, I’d love to see a cost analysis of what the RCMP is actually costing us and are there ways we can get similar or better service for less money.”

Bressey said during budget deliberations last week that he also wanted to undertake the review because of the provincial government’s discussions surrounding the creation of an Alberta police force. He wondered if changes were to go ahead at the provincial level, would it mean the province would only police its own jurisdictions and leave communities like the City of Grande Prairie to create their own police forces

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Bressey adds that though the RCMP service is great now, the City has no input on how the RCMP’s money is allocated, or what policies are put in place in the community. He says they hope to examine options that would allow for more local control, while providing the same or better policing service.

The $150,000 for this review is not coming out of the police budget, but instead from the Protective and Social Services department. There had been a few capital projects which were funded, but later the Council decided weren’t needed, and that funding has now been shifted into this review.

Meanwhile, the City of Grande Prairie has also decided not to hire three additional RCMP members, but instead use that $390,000 to hire six more staff for the Mobile Outreach Program’s team.

The Outreach Program sees it’s trained team members, backed by Enforcement Services, respond to calls involving homeless or vulnerable people and non-criminal acts in Grande Prairie, rather than RCMP officers.

He adds there has been a lot of positive feedback about the program since it was launched earlier this year.

“I’ve heard from business that have noticed that when they call for help, help shows up a lot faster than it has in the past. [Mobile Outreach staff] have been picking up needles in the community, they’ve been helping people get back to their home communities where there’s natural supports. It’s been doing really good work so far.”

Though the RCMP won’t be getting new members this year, the police budget has not been cut, but instead increased by over $2-million.

The City of Grande Prairie is also looking for members of the public to join a new Municipal Policing Advisory Committee. Bressey says through this committee, the public will be able to have a say in policing matters in the community, and encourages anyone interested to apply.

“When it comes to policing, I think actually the most important thing we have going on right now is giving members of the public more input into what’s going on, and creating more community conversations about ‘how can we do better.'”

The deadline to apply for the Municipal Policing Advisory Committee is November 30, 2020.