Critic says RCMP too expensive for Atlantic Canada

March 12th, 2007 · No Comments

CBC.ca

To save money, the Atlantic provinces should set up their own regional police force, says a critic of the RCMP.

Paul Palango, a Nova Scotia investigative reporter and author of The Last Guardians, a book on the problems within the RCMP, told CBC News a regional force would not only be cheaper, but just as efficient.

“Have it centrally run and have it run on the economies of scale that are suited to this area, because the RCMP runs on a national scale, and it’s going to be judged by that scale,” Palango said. “It’s not based on what the local realities are.”

Many municipalities patrolled by the RCMP complain salaries for the police organization are set in Ottawa, and don’t reflect regional differences. Constables all over Canada, for example, receive a starting salary of $70,000 a year.

Lowell Thomas, a spokesman for the RCMP, says they have to pay a national salary to stay competitive with forces in Toronto and Vancouver.

“We also look at the salaries from coast to coast and we make our recommendations based on what we feel they should be, and being a national police force, we recommend a national rate,” Lowell said Friday.

Palango argues that an Atlantic or Maritime police force would allow municipalities to pay salaries based on what the local economy can afford.