Costs force investigation of police service

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: July 27, 2010 7:00 PM

Skyrocketing policing costs could force Vernon to go it alone. Council has endorsed a study looking into the cost of the current regional detachment model compared to having a municipal force only. “The RCMP do an excellent job but the problem we have is with integrated detachments,” said Mayor Wayne Lippert. While the city provides the building for the detachment, it houses resources for the entire North Okanagan, and Lippert says the contract between the RCMP and the provincial government places onerous expenses on larger communities like Vernon. “Coldstream only has seven officers and if there’s an issue out there, they could take some from Vernon,” he said. “We’re being pushed by the RCMP for a new building but we’d be building it for the North Okanagan and part of the Columbia-Shuswap. We carry the full weight of the detachment.” City figures indicate that it pays between $142,000 and $160,000 a year per officer while it’s between $98,000 and $120,000 in Coldstream and less in the electoral areas. Lippert insists the study could lead to the city entering into a separate relationship with the RCMP instead of being part of the provincial contract. “The idea isn’t to get rid of the RCMP. This is an issue with the province,” he said.

Leon Gous, chief administrative officer, points out that other municipalities have their own police forces. “Some of them are smaller than Vernon like Oak Bay or similar size like Port Moody,” he said. Coun. Bob Spiers has some apprehension about the study. “To suggest we’d replace the RCMP with a municipal force goes against the grain with me. Why do we have to reinvent the wheel?” he said. Vernon is also joining Kelowna, West Kelowna and Penticton in calling on Victoria to consult with local government prior to adjusting policing costs. The mayors of the four cities have agreed policing expenses should not come as a surprise to municipal governments and a more cooperative approach would eliminate sudden charges in future and fit in better with municipalities’ budget planning processes.

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Don Quixote Note: The instructions to staff requested by an unanimous vote was to bring back a report on the costs of our present 'integrated policing force model' of the Vernon RCMP detachment and its civilian support staff. An examination would include the present costing formula for the allocation of the manning of the detachment and its support staff and to calculate much of these costs should be charged to the Province rather than the taxpayers of Vernon. (for example - a civilian crime analyst for the area is charged 100% to Vernon - what percentage of the work s/b charged to the Province for work done outside the City of Vernon's jurisdiction.

We specifically excluded any discussion of replacing the RCMP with a civilian force.

The apprehension attributed to me by Mr. Rolke in the above article was during the early stages of the debate when I was arguing against any thought of a RCMP change to a municipal force and a possible staff study using this premise as the basis for that study. The final resolution passed clearly shows that we are not going down that road.

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The motion passed by Council at the morning COW meeting was:

THAT Council directs staff to proceed with a cost analysis study on the Regional Vernon RCMP detachment with particular attention to the fees the integrated service is costing the City of Vernon Tax payers.
CARRIED.