It's been reported that Richmond is considering a new police force that will take over from the RCMP.
The reasoning behind this is the need to have the best model for the City of Richmond and to have the best value in terms of cost, effectiveness, local governance and policy setting.
For people who don't have a background in policing, the Metro Vancouver area is policed by a patchwork of independent municipal police services and RCMP detachments. The large RCMP detachments in B.C. are modem urban centres and, typically, city policing in Canada is done by a local police service.
The RCMP, our iconic national police force, is a player in rural regions and does policing at a national and an international level on issues such as border integrity, terrorism, and international crime.
In some ways, their equivalency in the U.S. would be the FBI and the main focus is not doing major urban policing.
Outside of B.C., cities across the nation are policed by independent municipal or regional/metro police forces. These include large cities like Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary, and smaller cities like Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Brandon, as a few examples.
Why should Richmond look at establishing a local police force?
The reasons include the growth of Richmond, improved governance and the ability to develop policies that reflect Richmond's needs, rather than Ottawa's.
In 1950, when the RCMP took over policing duties, Richmond was largely a rural municipality of farms with a population of 17,500 people.
Today, Richmond is a cosmopolitan city with a varied amount of industry, an international airport and a diverse population of 200,000.
A locally governed police force would provide Richmond with several advantages that typical medium sized and large cities benefit from and it also reflects the evolution of our city.
The chain of command for the Richmond RCMP starts in Ottawa, flows down through B.C.'s E Division, and finally to the Officer in Charge of Richmond Detachment. There is no formal role for Richmond council in governance.
While Richmond pays for 90 per cent of the Richmond RCMP's budget, our influence is limited and we have no role in policy decisions made at the provincial and federal level.
For example, the recent request for upgraded weapons for all RCMP units to match the greater firepower of criminals and gangs came from Ottawa, but the payment for these weapons (90 per cent) falls to the City of Richmond.
We all support our police having the proper weapons, but a little warning, planning and consultation of the bill helps us to plan and to keep our budget balanced.
We weren't told of this cost beforehand because we weren't part of the decision-making process.
The real question is what is the best policing model for the City of Richmond?
We want to have the safest community and the best level of service at the best price. A local Police Board would be established with the mayor as the Chair of the Police Board. The city would appoint a local appointee and the province would appoint three appointees.
The purpose of the Police Board would be to provide good local governance and includes budget approval, policy approval, policy complaints and, of course, the selection of the Chief Constable.
We need to make sure that we choose the best police model for Richmond which provides public safety, respects taxpayers, and ensures it is responsive to local needs. A new Richmond police force is worth investigating.
