Rob Shaw Victoria, B.C. (Times Colonist) - Vancouver Island’s top Mountie is asking the province for 27 new officers, staff he says are needed to give RCMP in remote detachments — such as the north Island and Gulf Islands — proper backup on dangerous calls.
“What it boils down to is additional resources,” said Chief Supt. Rick Betker, Island District RCMP commander. “Additional resources come from the province. So those discussions are ongoing with Police Services and the Solicitor General. What I’m told is they are very supportive of the backup policy issues and they will be supportive of the decisions we are going to make.”
The RCMP implemented a long-awaited national backup policy in December, after the death of two officers in the Far North. The new rules say an officer must not go alone to calls involving violence, domestic disputes, weapons, threats or any other situations deemed high risk.
But Vancouver Island RCMP detachments have struggled to comply because, in some small communities, the police force consists of only one or two members. For example, Mayne Island, west of Pender Island, has one officer. Zeballos, Texada Island and Port Alice have only two.
To meet the backup requirements, as well as balance sick days, vacations and training, officers are stuck spending lengthy periods on call on top of working normal shifts, said Scott Warren, the Island’s staff relations representative. One member told Warren about working and being on call for 28 days straight because of the backup policy.
During an emergency call, help usually comes from the nearest large detachment, which can sometimes be more than 45 minutes away. That’s unacceptable, Warren said.
The RCMP polices virtually all of Vancouver Island, except for parts of Greater Victoria. In larger cities, such as Nanaimo, municipalities foot most of the bill and control RCMP staffing levels. Rural areas, however, are policed by the RCMP through a contract with the provincial government.
Solicitor General John Les has acknowledged that it might cost more money to make the backup policy work in small communities.
There are currently about 850 RCMP officers on the Island. Twenty-seven new members would cost the province $3.51 million and represent one of the largest Island RCMP budget increases in years. A spokesperson for the Solicitor General’s ministry said a decision on the matter could take months.
Last year, Island RCMP officials requested nine new officers but did not receive any, said Betker. “Could I use more officers? Always. Am I getting what I need? I’m getting what I can adequately provide policing with,” he said.
One potential solution would involve organizing smaller detachments into regions to co-ordinate staffing schedules and ensure backup is always available, Betker said.
The Cowichan Valley, a mixture of rural areas such as Cowichan Lake and urban areas like Duncan, will be grouped into one co-ordinated region in the future, said Betker. A similar plan for the north Island — Port Hardy, Port Alice and Port McNeill –will be the subject of a meeting on April 15.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Justbecause // Mar 17, 2008 at 20:19
One question is “why would it take the Solicitor General’s ministry months to make a decision whether the additional positions can be funded . Its time the RCMP started to play hardball with their Policing Partners .
2 gus // Mar 17, 2008 at 22:59
Just because very well said! The RCMP needs to tell the municipalities/provinces - “This is how much money we need to do the job right” If they do not wnat to pay that much, then find your own police force, The RCMP is short staffed every where in the province and could use those officers in other positions. The RCMP would be well served by eliminating some of there contracts and redeploying people to other areas.
3 GetReal // Mar 18, 2008 at 17:10
It’s all smoke and mirrors. The RCMP and the municipal and provincial forces cannot supply enough people to address the attrition let alone increases of positions. Because the RCMP is the cheapest service around, do not expect any standalone services to break out in any meaningful fashion. To police under union/association agreement, you would almost have to double the manpower. The last study done for Surrey BC was an eye opener for the critics who thought they could have a local force cheaper and more accountable.
Playing hardball with the contracts would make sense but you would have a lot of Commissioned Officers out of a job. They spent the past 10 years getting the numbers up. The only reason that the Force did not amalgamate ’subdivisions’ and created the present mess is because of the number of Commissioned Officer positions that would have been sacrificed.
If you check the history books you will find that Commissioned Officers were not that plentiful, vis a vis the rank and file.
Lets not forget the oppressed taxpayer who would bear for example, the 3.51 million dollars just for a handful of new positions.
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