New website details what a provincial police force would look like in Alberta

According to PwC it would cost millions of dollars more to set up and run a provincial police force but down the road could result in more cost-effective law enforcement.

With the release of this new website, the province says no decision has been made on proceeding with an Alberta police service. The government says it is doing due diligence by going to Albertans to talk directly about this issue.

Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Tyler Shandro says, “Albertans have told us they want more details about the potential benefits of a provincial police service. As all levels of government across the country review their policing models, Albertans need to have all the information available.”

Currently, a number of municipalities and First Nations have their own police services and others are said to be exploring the possibility of setting up their own. Alberta’s government says it supports this work and has established a grant to support municipalities and First Nations as they explore the possibility of forming their own police service.

In addition to increasing the number of officers in rural areas, the UCP government says transitioning to a provincial police service would improve governance and give municipalities more say in setting their own policing priorities. This model, says the government, would also provide greater coverage, reduce response times and lower case loads per officer.

The Opposition NDP says, “Alberta’s government firmly believes that establishing an Alberta provincial police service is not a question of if, but when,” states the new website, in the Frequently Asked Questions section.

“It’s incredibly disrespectful for the UCP to pretend to ‘consult’ with Albertans in rural communities when clearly the decision is already made,” said Irfan Sabir, NDP Critic for Justice. “Tyler Shandro is travelling around the province lying to Albertans.”

The NDP says both Alberta Municipalities and Rural Municipalities of Alberta have formally passed resolutions calling on the government to scrap plans for a provincial police service. More recently, 72 communities and organizations co-signed a letter to the UCP echoing those calls.

“Nobody wants this,” Sabir said. “It means more property taxes for Albertans who are already struggling to meet their monthly bills. The UCP is already forcing Albertans to pay more property taxes, more income taxes, more school fees, more tuition, more interest on student loans, more for utilities and more for car insurance.

“The UCP should drop this terrible idea and focus on addressing the causes of crime, not on these expensive political games.”

Meantime, the National Police Federation (NPF) launched on June 27, 2022, a list of 72 municipalities and other organizations from across Alberta that have signed a Call to Action, which has been sent to the Government of Alberta, to voice concern over continued efforts to advance the creation of what they describe as an expensive new provincial police service.

The NPF says this growing group of stakeholders stands together in support of keeping the RCMP in Alberta and of investing in long-underfunded critical services within the province.

Specifically, the Call to Action recommends that taxpayer-funded resources be better allocated to 1) improve current policing services to reduce response times and address rural crime, 2) improve funding to much needed social services programs to address root causes of crime, and 3) increase supports to improve the efficacy and efficiency of the criminal justice system.

In this Call to Action, the organization says municipalities and engaged Albertans continue to call on the Government of Alberta to improve rural police response times and increase resources available to the justice system because the Province’s $2 million Transition Study did not highlight how a new APPS would address any of the above issues.

The NPF says the Government of Alberta has yet to release a detailed funding model that spells out who would be paying the costs of this proposed transition. The organization says, for example, their Transition Study also vaguely noted that initial transition costs would total $366 million over six years, along with an additional $139 million annually, plus inflation, which has since skyrocketed.

Despite promises to the contrary, the NPF says municipalities know all too well that most of those costs will be downloaded directly to them, forcing them to find the funds elsewhere – likely, through increased taxes.

A copy of the Call to Action and complete list of signatory municipalities and organizations is available here: Call to Action to the Government of Alberta

(With files from rdnewsNOW)

by Regan Tate

New website details what a provincial police force would look like in Alberta

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