Replacing the RCMP in Alberta
December 5, 2006 · By Aaron Unruh
During the recent leadership race, an integral component of Dinning’s firewalls scare campaign was his pledge to not kick the RCMP out of Alberta. Unfortunately, Stelmach picked up on the idea. Alberta is now stuck with a premier who has effectively shut the door on the creation of a provincial police force when the RCMP contract with Alberta runs out in 2012. Even more outrageous, Stelmach has undermined Alberta’s bargaining position with the RCMP if Alberta does go the renegotiation route.
The premier should rethink his position. He no doubt will with Morton in a senior cabinet position. But for now, Dinning’s scare campaign should be countered with facts.
First: Morton is not proposing “kicking out” the RCMP. Dunderheads like Rick Bell believed this, but Dinning is smart enough to have known better.
The RCMP provides both national and provincial policing services in Alberta. The RCMP, as George Freeman pointed out, will always provide national policing in Alberta, no matter what the provincial government does. But the government of Alberta pays a whack of money to the RCMP for those provincial services. The real question is: Could Alberta save money and provide a better service by training its own force to engage in provincial policing.
Would a provincial police force be cheaper than contracting the RCMP? The Alberta Federation of Police Associations thinks so:
One of the biggest myths in Canadian law enforcement is a belief that RCMP policing is less expensive than municipal or regional policing. We would urge your Commission to be wary of such a claim and to independently consult other municipalities in Canada, who after examining other policing alternatives, have chosen to remain as a municipal police service.
Would a provincial force provide a better service than the RCMP? One way to answer might be to ask Ontario and Quebec why they maintain their own provincial police forces.
Or you could ask Commissioner Zaccardeli. Oh wait, he’s busy explaining inconsistencies in his testimony to a parliamentary committee. Or you could ask the RCMP officers that provided false information to the Americans that resulted in Maher Arar being deported to be tortured for a year. Oh wait, they’ve all been promoted. Or you could ask Ian Bush. Oh wait, he’s dead. Or you could ask the RCMP officer that shot Bush in the back of the head. Oh wait, he’s been found blameless by his peers. Or you could ask the former president of the HRDC, an enemy of Jean Chretien. Oh wait, he’s probably too intimidated to talk. Or you could ask the RCMP officers that used sponsorship scandal money to buy musical ride horses from themselves. Oh wait, they’re…musically riding.
Alberta used to have its own police force. They did us proud, and they can make us proud again. Our premier needs to have a more open mind about an Albertan provincial police force.
One of the most meaningful reasons to replace the RCMP is accountability. The Alberta Police Act is designed to ensure civilian oversight and accountability in our province’s police officers. The RCMP are not subject to the Police Act -because they are a federal agency – so we are in the peculiar position of having all police officers in the province required to comply with the Alberta Police Act except the provincial police service. You only have to examine the performance of the RCMP throughout the province -ask anyone who has dealt with them – to realise that sometning needs to be done. At the very least, if the RCMP wishes to renew their contract, they should be required to recognise the juristdiciton of the Alberta POlice Act.
I’m neutral on the issue, but to play devil’s advocate…
The RCMP are governed under the RCMP Act, which is in many ways more stringent. Furthermore, RCMP Officers are unique among federal civil servants in that they do not have a union – unlike municipal and provincial police forces. If anything, police unions often decrease police accountability by insulating officers from interal discipline.
Finally, you’ll find that on any objective score of professionalism, especially crime clearence rate, the RCMP outperform any municipal force in Alberta.
Just my 2 cents. Officers from Municipal Forces would likely disagree.
“Finally, you’ll find that on any objective score of professionalism, especially crime clearence rate, the RCMP outperform any municipal force in Alberta.”
Could you reference this please? Given that the RCMP are (for the most part providing policing for small communities this could have much to do with any “crime clearance rate” (if indeed you assertion is true, which I doubt).
As a fomer law enforcement officer in a small community I can tell you it is easier to keep track of problems when you are only policing 5000 people then if you are policing 500,000.
Stelmach should make changes to the POlice Act and provide financing that would make it easier for individual municipalities to enter into regional policing agreements or start their own departments. If removing the RCMP is too much of a political “hot potato” to enact province-wide then he should make it easier for those communities that want to remove the RCMP so they can do it themselves.
Well said, Aaron! JackB, good follow-up!
Albertans would still have the RCMP, in any event, and likely a better RCMP by having their own provincial police force. The RCMP has a massive mandate, as it is, and considering that mandate the RCMP are under-resourced.
If Alberta were to recreate its own police force, it would do well to mimic the traditions of dignity and low-key civility that has historically marked the RCMP out from other police forces. The major problems we now see with the RCMP likely arise because it is an over-stretched organization.
The foundation of an Alberta Provincial Police – or at least a Provincial force to supplement the RCMP – is already in place, in the form of the Alberta Sheriffs, part of Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security. They are already patrolling the Provincial highways in concert with the RCMP.
They could likely have an expansion of their police powers if so required….
The specifics have been hard to track down, as its been a while since I had to reference them.
Nevertheless, this report indicates a stable 80% clearence rate of violent crimes for the RCMP, which is consistent with current Alberta statistics I’ve seen. CPS reports a clearance rate of around 68%. Edmonton Police Service has an esitmated 60% clearance rate for violent crime, which they’re obviously reluctant to publicize…
While the urban rural split may account for some of it, keep in mind that the case load per officer is higher for RCMP Officers than their municipal counterparts. RCMP also police Fort McMurray and Red Deer – both cities with increasing crime problems.
No worries, I fixed the URLs. They should work now…
Ron -
It is my understanding that the current Sheriffs are fully-fledged police officers as appointed by the Province, and have all the authority that entails. They can charge people for Criminal Code Offences that they observe while on duty – it is only their mandate that restricts them.
your idea is a waste of time…”didus proud?” oh yeah i suppose that was when they hanged a pregnant woman, something all you Mortonstein admirers can salivate over.
Trolls are fun.
You’re not even from Alberta, are you?
[...] the Morton-RCMP scare in Alberta i wasn’t big on the RCMP issue raised during the Alberta PC leadership race. though i could understand why Ted Morton’s idea might have turned away some voters. i could care less either way though.however, Aaron Unruh had an informative look at the RCMP relative to provincial police forces over at the Politic. [...]
[...] [...]
idiot
this is the worst written piece of garbage I have ever read. I agree, a provincial force may do a better job but to bring up incidents such as Ian Bush makes me sick. Do you have any knowledge of this case? If you did then you might rethink your thought. The RCMP has done many good things as well but none of those are mentioned. I agree, Alberta would benefit from their own police force but next time maybe you should choose your words better and get the facts straight.
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