Keep the RCMP

(Calgary Herald) – Furious over RCMP scandals in B.C., that province’s solicitor general said last week the national police service must submit to civilian oversight. If it does not, Kash Heed told The Province newspaper in Vancouver he is not ruling out the costly idea of replacing the RCMP with a provincial police force, such as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) or Quebec’s Surete du Quebec.

In Alberta, calls for a provincial police service have also been renewed by a group of conservative citizens. Writing on these pages recently, their arguments for a provincial force have merit, including better local accountability and freeing up the RCMP to concentrate on federal spheres of jurisdiction such as terrorism and border security.

Based on a per-capita cost comparison between the RCMP and the OPP, they argue that an Alberta force can operate with greater economic efficiency than the RCMP. Absent in the group’s analysis is the startup cost of an Alberta police force, the cost-recovery period should a provincial force prove to be more cost-effective, and the recognition that the OPP has been in existence since pre-Confederation, long before the RCMP was even established.

Frank Oberle, Alberta’s solicitor general, disputes the group’s arguments. He told the Herald’s editorial board that replacing the RCMP would cost Albertans about $52 million a year more than we currently pay, excluding startup costs. Alberta’s contract with the RCMP is $177 million for 2009-2010, 30 per cent of which is paid by Ottawa. Add in the cost of vehicles, airplanes, buildings, guns, uniforms, computers and communications equipment, and “it’s fairly obvious it doesn’t make sense,” Oberle said.

The province’s 20-year contract with the RCMP expires in 2012. Calgary, Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and four smaller centres — Lacombe, Coaldale, Camrose and Taber — have independent police services. All other Alberta communities, including Red Deer, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray, contract with the RCMP through the Alberta government.

The strong case for local accountability is a huge issue in B.C. due to a number of high-profile incidents, including the airport Taser death of Robert Dziekanski in 2007. Local citizen oversight is preferable to the RCMP Public Complaints Commission, which is ultimately answerable to Ottawa. The Mounties, in response to voices like the B.C. solicitor general, announced an interim policy Thursday preventing the force from investigating itself. It will, RCMP commissioner William Elliott said, submit to civilian oversight or to outside police agencies.

Unlike B.C., Oberle says Alberta already investigates the RCMP through the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT). Its mandate covers all sworn officers in Alberta. It is run by a civilian director, two civilian criminal analysts, four civilian investigators and 10 police officers from Calgary, Edmonton and the RCMP. Most communities with RCMP detachments in Alberta also have a citizen’s police committee. In Canmore, for instance, it is made up of six citizens, one councillor and the town administrator.

The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association isn’t dissatisfied with the RCMP and there appears to be no groundswell of public discontent with the Mounties in Alberta. A recent unscientific survey by a Red Deer newspaper found strong public support to keep the RCMP in that city.

On the political scene, the Wildrose Alliance supports an expanded role for provincial highway sheriffs. The Stelmach government rejected a provincial force in 2007 when times were good. In the current economy, are Albertans willing to pay $52 million a year more for a provincial force, plus millions more in startup costs? We suspect the answer would be a resounding no.

This is not to say that the “massively inert” RCMP is not badly in need of an overhaul, as Paul Kennedy, the former head of the RCMP Complaints Commission, said last year. But toss them out of Alberta? It seems like a classic case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Catherine Prowse, a U of C professor and former police officer, says most police services do a poor job of “interjurisdictional communication.” A national force like the RCMP, she says, eliminates some of that protectionism.

If there is an appetite for a provincial force in Alberta, and we’re not convinced there is, we need a rational debate that is not based on sentiment and ideology. In 2006, the province commissioned an external cost-benefit analysis of the RCMP in Alberta. This newspaper has an outstanding access-to-information request for its contents, filed three years ago. It would be worthwhile to have all the cards on the table so Albertans can make an informed choice. In the meantime, we say keep the RCMP.