The Alberta government is moving forward with plans to allow municipalities to replace the RCMP with a new provincial police service.
The proposed provincial service falls under Bill 49, also known as the Public Safety Statutes Amendment Act, and would function as a Crown corporation, maintaining operational independence from the government, the province said.
The RCMP will remain the official police service in the province even if the bill is passed in the legislature and a provincial agency is formed, Ellis said. But that could change in the future if a large number of municipalities opt for the provincial agency as their policing provider.
Some Alberta municipal leaders have complained about the rising costs associated with maintaining RCMP services in their areas, Ellis said. At the same time, vacant positions have resulted in prolonged wait times for rural residents seeking assistance when they dial 911.
“I think Albertans, especially in rural Alberta, have a right when they call 911, to have somebody answer their call,” he said. “Time is of the essence in emergencies. This is just another step toward increasing law enforcement capacity across the province and giving municipalities more options for their local policing needs.”
The Epoch Times contacted the Alberta RCMP for comment but didn’t receive a response by publication time.
Getting a provincial service up and running will not mean starting from scratch, Ellis said.
Approximately 600 Alberta Sheriffs have been identified by the province as already fulfilling police-like functions and Ellis said they could easily become officers with a small amount of additional training.
He said that while sheriff service personnel have traditionally acted as peace officers, handling duties such as court security, they have increasingly been tasked with handling fugitive apprehension and helping police keep order in downtown Edmonton and Calgary.
Opposition NDP public safety critic David Shepherd has expressed concerns that reallocating hundreds of sheriffs to support the new provincial police service raises questions on how their existing duties will be managed.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has previously described the province’s police force plan as confusing and expensive.
Agency Costs
Ellis did not provide an estimated cost or timeline for establishing a new Crown police agency but noted that the Alberta Sheriffs already have equipment and infrastructure in place, so the province wouldn’t be “starting from a position of zero and then building up.”“We spend about approximately $136 million on the Alberta Sheriffs, so that money would then thus go over to this new Crown corporation,” he said.
Ellis used Grande Prairie as an example of how the new model could cut costs.
The city is transitioning from the RCMP to its own municipal police service and is anticipating an increase in the number of officers, improved oversight, and reduced expenses, even though it will forfeit federal funding.
Ellis suggested that other municipalities would also be able to have better policing services at a reduced cost depending on the terms of their agreements with the provincial policing agency.
Bill 49 would enable municipalities to engage the provincial agency as their police service provider once it is fully operational, he said. Although the government has yet to determine a cost-sharing formula, he noted that the new agency would give communities another option to consider.
“If municipalities want to continue with their current police of jurisdiction, they can,” he said. “But if they want to explore another option, that choice should be available to them.”
