The United Conservative government has long marketed the switch to a provincial police force as a way to address concerns about rural crime, so as more information is released on the hot-button issue, the gulf between urban and rural communities continues to expand.
The rural perspective
Foothills County Reeve Delilah Miller is of the view that an Alberta provincial police force will give her residents the service they deserve.
She said that property owners in the Foothills have at times been left to “fend for themselves” when calls for help go unanswered.
“Residents have had to watch people rob them in broad daylight and they couldn’t do anything about it,” she said.
Miller recalled the case of Eddie Maurice.
On Feb. 24, 2018, Ryan Randy Watson and a co-accused drove onto the Maurice property south of Okotoks at around 5:40 a.m. where they rummaged through the family’s vehicles. Maurice, who was home with his one-year-old daughter, gave a verbal warning and then fired a warning shot into the ground, which ricocheted and struck Watson in the wrist.
Maurice was charged with gun offences and his court appearances received national attention with hundreds of people supporting his right to defend his home.
All charges against Maurice were eventually dropped.
Watson filed a $100,000 lawsuit against Maurice, which was ultimately dismissed.
The reeve said she is not encouraging residents to take up arms, but the frustration and fear amongst residents has come to a breaking point.
At one time, Miller said residents were refraining from calling authorities for assistance and instead hoped that the additional gates and locks they installed would be enough to deter those looking to trespass.
A deployment model released Aug. 16 outlines plans by the Province to increase the minimum number of officers per detachment to 10. The proposal claims the transition to a provincial force would add 275 officers to the smallest 42 detachments in the Province.
The promise of more officers is appealing to Miller, given the number of officers currently assigned to the county is minimal.
She also said the large geographical area that rural officers are responsible for covering makes it difficult for police to respond in a timely fashion. This has left the County frustrated.
“We’re not confident that we’re going to see the attention we need,” Miller said of the RCMP.
The urban perspective
In neighbouring Okotoks, Mayor Tanya Thorn, who also serves as vice-president, towns on the Alberta Municipalities board of directors, sees it in a different light.
She said the Province controls the budget for Alberta RCMP and can dictate the hiring of more officers and special officers if that is what's desired.
“The justification that we need a provincial police force to accomplish that [is something] which I categorically disagree with,” Thorn said.
From her perspective, she said there's no need to spend money developing a system so close to what already exists, minus the federal integration.
“Yes, there needs to be improvements in what we’ve currently got with RCMP, but RCMP is showing that willingness across this province to make some of those changes and adapt to what policing looks like in this day and age,” said Thorn.
The Town is rather pleased with the service it's getting from the RCMP, she added.
Okotoks council is regularly provided with updates on the service and can give input on policing in town.
Thorn said the promise by the Province to allow elected officials increased oversight of their community policing without the direction of Ottawa is not necessary, given that Okotoks has already established a sufficient working relationship with its detachment.
One of this year’s requests to the local RCMP was increased visibility in the community through traffic and foot patrols, which the detachment has acted on.
“They’ve done that this year, and that’s not because that’s on any federal program, it’s because we directly asked them to do that for the Town of Okotoks,” she said.
Thorn said Okotoks is still open to considering what a different model could look like for the Town and for that reason has yet to take a formal stance on the issue. This could potentially include looking at what a municipal police force would look like.
Common ground
Despite their differences, Miller and Thorn seem to be on the same page about one thing: money.
The Province has said any costs associated with the transition would be borne by the government, but that isn’t entirely settling.
Miller said that cost is absolutely a concern for municipalities and while they don’t mind paying for police, they believe that price tag should come with adequate assurance.
“Our residents are willing to pay for protection, but they expect protection as well,” said Miller.
She added that in her view, there hasn’t been sufficient consultation with municipalities when it comes to dollars and cents and that needs to be done in order to ease the angst.
“They need to assure residents that the costs aren’t going to be exponential and people aren’t going to have to pay,” Miller said.
Thorn said Okotoks’ funding model sees the Town pay 90 per cent of its policing costs, and other municipalities pay anywhere from 30 to 100 per cent.
“They’re going to do nothing to equalize that, and we’re all going to be given the same service,” she said. “So for me as the mayor of the Town of Okotoks, I can’t go out and in good faith say to my residents, 'This is good value for you, because they’re paying the brunt of the cost,' but they’re getting the same service as the people who are paying 30 per cent.”
Both leaders also expressed concerns about the number of new officers promised by the UCP, wondering where exactly 245 additional officers would come from.
