Eva Hoare (Halifax Chronicle Herald) – The face of policing in Nova Scotia’s largest municipality could be decided as early as next week after Halifax regional councillors receive a recommendation from police commissioners, The Chronicle Herald has learned.
Depending on the result, the 178 RCMP officers, who patrol outlying regions of the municipality and perform other policing duties, could be removed from duty and offered the chance to roll their jobs into the Halifax Regional Police fold.
Or it’s possible Mountie brass will offer to transfer all those not willing to become Halifax cops out of the region, sources said. About 20 to 30 civilians who work in Mountie ranks could also be affected, depending on council’s choice.
Neither force would discuss the matter Wednesday, deferring to Coun. Russell Walker, chairman of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners.
“They’ll discuss it, the pros and cons of our recommendation,” Walker said in an interview Wednesday, referring to Halifax councillors.
On Monday, seven police commissioners, including Walker, will deliver councillors their formal recommendation on the makeup of law enforcement in Halifax.
Those meetings will be behind closed doors and will continue into Tuesday, the board chairman said.
Walker would not divulge the commissioners’ recommendation to council, but said commissioners studied a report submitted to them six months ago by a Vancouver consulting firm that weighed policing costs and delivery.
“I can’t answer that question. It’s a personnel issue,” Walker said. “Council may decide to do nothing. At this side, we don’t want to raise expectations one way or another…or put fear into anyone’s lives.”Both RCMP and Halifax police will get a last-minute call before the meetings, he said.
“I’ll give them a call 10 minutes before we go into council and tell them (our recommendation). Both are getting it (the call) at the same time.”
When reached Wednesday, Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said he also couldn’t say much except that “nothing is cast in stone.”
But the mayor knows the rumours are swirling.
“There’s a lot of speculation out there…whether they’re (police make up) changing or it will be status quo…”
“We don’t know what’s in the report,” he said. “The police commission will bring forward a recommendation to council on Monday and Tuesday. What that is we do not know.”
Sources who contacted this newspaper this week said the RCMP called together senior officers and civilian staffers to a meeting earlier this week to let them know about the upcoming report.
One source said the Mountie brass told the officers they didn’t know the fate of the Mounties here either, but wanted them to be prepared. There was also a meeting of senior officials on Monday night, but it wasn’t known who attended, the sources said.
Those reports could not be substantiated Wednesday.
The mayor acknowledged that rising policing costs are a major concern here and in municipalities across the country as the federal government reviews its funding formulas for the RCMP presence.
HRM currently pays 70 per cent of the Mounties’ cost, while the feds pick up the remaining 30 per cent. “Any cost increase that would have to be incurred by the taxpayer would be a strain,” Kelly said. “As you know .. any additional costs would be of concern…” he said, referring to the $30 million shortfall currently faced by HRM.
The annual cost to police HRM is about $74 million; the RCMP portion of that is roughly $20 million, Walker said.
Kelly said he’s been involved in the national committee on the policing formula, but said the national report has yet to be delivered. He stressed that the national report differs from the consulting firm’s report to the Halifax police commissioners, but conceded that it all boils down to money and municipal coffers.
It’s not clear how policing in HRM would change if the RCMP left. Currently the forces are integrated.
Meanwhile, the RCMP’s contract to police in Nova Scotia expires in 2012 and it’s also not known how that will play out throughout the province.
Walker said the study by the Vancouver firm did not make a recommendation, but spelled out four scenarios. Public input was also gleaned through consultation during meetings in HRM, he said.
The police commissioners’ final recommendation was the result of taking cost and delivery into account, Walker said.
He ruled out public hearings on the issue.
“It’s a personnel issue.”
Here is my $.02 on the debate.
I am going to side with Deepthroat and not Calvin on this one.
I don’t think scenario based abuse is the same as drill. Yes, the actors test your skills in how to use levels of force and decisions making. But, the actors don’t have the same level of hostility a drill corporal can. When a actor is giving you a hard time it doesn’t put you under the same level of duress that your supervisor does when they are standing there peeling you out.
Believe me, compared to the drill staff, the actors are considered a joke in Depot.
Also there is something that is being missed in this debate in that with a good drill program it really sharpens your mind. When the drill staff tears you down and builds you back up again, you have much clearer thinking, quicker reaction, and pay attention to detail. And yes, it also greatly improves how you handle the stress and gives you the confidence you need to do the job. All this helps to instill a sense of pride. That is what has always made the difference in the past.
Lets remember a good drill Corp. doesn’t have to swear to put the fear of God into a cadet. The demeanor of the Corporal has more to do with what the cadet gets out of it as opposed to swearing. If a swear word slips out though, it shouldn’t be thought of as the end of the world.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Perhaps I should have used a simpler example for you Calvin. I have noted before the trend of society to mollify the rougher aspects of life in some feeble attempt to gentrify the world. Everybody gets a ribbon at “outdoors day”. There are no losers or winners, just participants. This is not life.
Unfortunately when some persons are raised under that criteria, they tend to feel slighted when called a name, refused a demand, etc. The young starry eyed recruit at depot gets a rude awakening when somebody’s voice is raised and their competence is called into question by a drill Cpl. (Sgt i/c drill rarely appears). If the vernacular makes a cameo appearance, this is unacceptable?
“The recruit will become a police officer. He/She will be called the four letter word on the street. When the four letter words start coming the officer is in a position of authority and is expected to be professional. If not, thanks for coming and your gone. ”
Not so. IF there is a complaint, they will hardly be dismissed. That is reality. The RCMP apologizes, counsels the officer and moves on. Most complaints presently are overreactions to insulting behavior by the public. The term thin skinned comes to the fore.
Some people get quite agitated when their sexual orientation or their gender, lineage, etc, is called into question in any situation, and rightly so. However, they cannot afford to as a police officer. They have to maintain their composure and discharge their responsibilities in a professional manner. You may be able to just lecture a number of people about this occurrence in police work, however, a little reality as provided by drill is eminently more instructive. 32 persons attempting to perform some intricate maneuvers, some individuals unable to concentrate, and someone being distracting by decibel heavy voice and demeanor has its benefits. The fact that the drill component in RCMP training has seen a resurgence in recent years is instructive.
You can tell an individual in the greatest of detail how to perform a task, and handle the effects of details, however, this does not really give them the practice needed to actually perform the task.
Now people, we just want to prepare you for the fact that Mr. Criminal may just call your parentage into question while you try and do your job, and beware they may use bad words. Work through it people and get on with the job at hand. And while we are at it, you may see some blood at an accident scene.
The recruits are given lots of practice to drive a vehicle, physically handle some unruly person, write reports, and use a weapon and deadly force against violent individuals. So where is the practice of getting used to someone verbally in your face, trying to distract you, and my goodness, using the vernacular?
There is a reason that the older police officers are difficult to unnerve, and that is experience with various aspects of public interaction. The recruits are owed a taste of reality to assist/inure them. If that includes graphic photos of crime/accident scenes or getting yelled at in drill, so much the better for them. If you find that you vomit at the sight of blood, perhaps being a police officer is not a wise career choice. If being yelled at and your competence is called into question and that poses a problem for your composure, perhaps you have the wrong career. Best find that out before handing them a badge.
A person in authority does not automatically become one when the badge is handed over. They have to be built with instruction, experience and practice.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I agree with DT’s point about new officers becoming second class in the new fold. The HRM police have traditionally been very anti RCMP. Much of this culture in my opinion stems back to the police strike of the early 80’s where some of their members are now literally driving taxi cabs because they flipped over a car and tried to incite a riot, trying to prove that the city needed them. All while the mayor of Halifax thought the RCMP had been doing a better job than these guys did.
What is also ironic with HRM is that if an RCMP member wants to join their force (Most likely to get out of the lower mainland!), they have to do a full basic training… but yet as RCMP members they are good enough to police the outlying area’s with the training they do have. I wonder if this has anything to do with discouraging RCMP members from trying to join?
I really think the HRM police have been improving in recent years. I have met some real top notch guys on that force, but damn they also had their fair share of clowns over the years….
DT I agree that when you have younger people comprising the rank and file, you are always going to get problems that relate to immaturity. I just feel that the outfit was different back in the 70’s. The pay wasn’t very good, there was no overtime for much of the time period. You had to really want to be there. The force was much more serious about hiring people that could do the job. There was much more pride and esprit de corp in the ranks. Back then you became a real mountie, not someone looking for a secure government job. I also don’t think the video game generation understands people or community service in the same regard the past generation has. I am not trying to run todays generation down, but this is why I feel the way I do.
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What should be of concern if correct, it the refusal of the committee to hold some public forums to gauge the level of support, or not, from various sectors. If it is a “personal issue”, there is no frank and germane examination that would hold forth a viable option for the municipalities. Personal politics would unfortunately reign.
These sort of costly examinations rarely give a totality of factors due consideration. One example is the statistical gathering by the Halifax Regional Police borders on dishonesty. The statistical model used by the RCMP does not fully credit them for the work that is actually done. Right there, the public does not get a truthful accounting of resource expenditure and results.
For example, the RCMP system only statistically generates 2 stats per file opened even if multiple charges are brought forward. Not a true reflection of the work performed. The HRP system reflects several files for single occurrences which skew comparative figures for any analysis.
I am not sure that the RCMP officers would be enthused to join an HRP force if instituted, if the treatment of past absorptions are any indication of the respect shown to new HPR officers. By all accounts the “patched over” officers are treated like second class citizens in the new fold.
As for the “new younger generation”, you have to start there to become part of the good old members club several years and much experience down the road. For decades the new Mounties have always been regarded with some trepidation, as they tended to be more black and white, and quick to charge people. With the demographic of today this is far more evident that in decades past where newer officers were less prevalent.
A stroll through major newspapers archives reveals the same sort of situation in eastern Canada in the 70’s. The local PD’s were concerned with the “power hungry conglomerate” of the RCMP”. Plenty of hand-wringing back then as well. Gives impetus to the old adage “whats past is prologue”.
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Hopefully the Halifax government does the right thing & eliminates the RCM Police completely from within their boundaries. Personally, I don’t believe they have the guts to go that far & will probably toss the mounties some tidbits by retaining them in the more rural areas of the county. The unfortunate outcome of the latter scenario will be the expectation in the NS Dept. of Justice that those displaced mounties will have to bump municipal police officers in other areas of Nova Scotia. Why do I feel that way? Well our justice minister is a recently retired RCM Police sergeant who has voiced that very opinion.
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For anyone who doesn’t know, the municipal police departments of Bedford, Dartmouth, and Halifax amalgamated 1996 as a cost cutting measure when the HRM was created. What they didn’t forsee here was wage disparity. When everyones wages had to come up to meet Halifax’s (Both Halifax and Dartmouth have had nasty police strikes in the previous 15 years, so the wages weren’t coming down) that ate away at the savings.
On top of that, it was business as usual for Cole Harbor, Sackville, and Tantallion detachments.
In area’s where the jurisdictions met, and there was overlap the RCMP did a better job. They were much more personable and would go into the nooks and cranny’s where the city cops would never go except to take a nap, or enjoy a good coffee or book. Needless to say, there was a big difference in pride and work ethic.
This was why residents didn’t want to switch over services and fought to keep the RCMP there. With this new younger generation of RCMP and a lot of the good old members retiring, I am curious if they feel the same. If not, than it certainly doesn’t make financial sense to continue on with this trend.
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