Dear Editor,
Re: “Mayor missing out policing facts,” Letters, Feb. 26.
While the city and the mayor have been painstakingly fair, it’s ironic that the writer himself is both selective and inaccurate.
Richmond does, in fact, pay for RCMP recruit training at Depot (Regina) on a cost recovery basis. This is part of the contract and the federal government and the RCMP do not provide the training for free.
Having been in charge of the VPD’s Recruiting Unit, the claim of additional expenses for national advertising and training is inaccurate.
The overwhelming majority of recruits are from the Metro Vancouver area. The process is extremely competitive and approximately six to eight per cent of applicants are hired.
Local police departments, like local fire departments, receive more than enough qualified local applicants.
Every month of the year, members are transferred to and from the Richmond Detachment. This occurs for many reasons, such as promotion or a member moving to a new assignment or another province.
When constables are replaced, most of them are recruits from Depot (Regina) while some come from other assignments in B.C. or elsewhere. These transfers occur monthly, quarterly, year after year.
In a local independent police department, this does not happen any more than it does with the fire department. The relationships and experience acquired in a member’s career, remain in Richmond.
The notion that the RCMP’s current lower pay is somehow a good thing is not. The Federal Treasury Board has arbitrarily held back RCMP officers salaries and that will, quite rightly, change at some point to catch them up.
When that occurs, Richmond will have absolutely no input, but will pay its share of the costs.
It’s incorrect to say all cars would have two police officers, since municipal departments like the VPD have both one officer and two officer cars.
The deployment of police officers is based on thorough analysis of calls for service and results in roughly 60 per cent two officer cars and 40 per cent one officer cars, with more police officers working at 1 a.m. than at 9 a.m.
Most people can appreciate that many incidents (robberies, sexual assaults, fights, homicides, noisy parties etc…) require more than one police officer and police are busier at 1 a.m. than 8 a.m.
The current Richmond policing budget, $41.5 million is sufficient for a department of 200 members and the transition cost, spread over three years, is affordable. As for a Police Board with the Mayor as chair, this model is used in cities throughout Canada.
Community policing is a local matter and the mayor and council are much closer to Richmond than Ottawa.
So, yes, Mayor Brodie is more than qualified to be chair of a Richmond Police Board.
Andy Hobbs
Retired VPD member
