Jeff McGowan; Director, Prairie/North Region, National Police Federation. (rdnewsNOW)

By Daniel Barker-Tremblay

KEEP ALBERTA RCMP

Tour in support of RCMP in Alberta stops in Red Deer

Feb 1, 2022 | 3:54 PM

A public engagement tour making its way across the province in support of the RCMP in Alberta made a stop in Red Deer on Monday.

Hosted by the National Police Federation (NPF), the KeepAlbertaRCMP Community Engagement Tour was held at the Cambridge Red Deer Hotel and Conference Centre.

Tour organizers note the provincial government is looking at options to improve Alberta’s place in Canada as part of the ‘Fair Deal Panel Review” completed in May 2020. The panel’s recommendations include replacing the RCMP with what the NPF says is an expensive new provincial police service.

NPF officials say a recent survey conducted by Pollara from Oct. 27-Nov. 4, 2021, shows that Albertans support the Alberta RCMP and do not support the government’s proposal:

• 84% want to keep the RCMP and only 9% of Albertans support the proposed transition.
• 92% want a full detailed accounting of the full costs of transition before any decision is made.
• 80% of Albertans served by the RCMP are consistently satisfied with the Alberta RCMP. (Over 80% are satisfied in rural central communities)

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“The purpose of this is to show the public what this looks like,” said Jeff McGowan; Director, Prairie/North Region, National Police Federation. “We believe that in order to make an informed decision or at least know what’s going on, you should have the facts and the numbers surrounding that.”

According to the Pollara survey, the top three priorities for policing in Alberta, include decreased rural response times, increased resources for policing, and fighting opioids and other drugs.

“It seems odd that we would try to duplicate what’s already in place,” said Kevin Halwa, Director of the Prairies North Region. “The minister said a few times before that there is too much influence from Ottawa as far as the day-to-day operations that happen. That is not a fact. It is covered by the provincial justice minister.”

Also mentioned was the potential transition timeline if a provincial police force were to take over from the RCMP in Alberta.

Officials with the NPF suggest a transition to a provincial police force would be fraught with unexpected delays and costs, as well as increased taxes for Albertans. The NPF says Albertan taxpayers would be on the hook for $139 million more per year for policing under one model suggested, but would increase to $164 million under another policing model suggested.

In 2019, NPF officials say a KPMG report to the City of Red Deer on a proposed transition, estimated it would take over four years to complete, just for a municipality.

The KeepAlbertaRCMP Community Engagement Tour also has stops in Stettler, Hanna, Drumheller, Olds, Airdrie, and Calgary this week.

For more information, visit keepalbertarcmp.ca/CommunityEngagementTour for more details.