RCMP Watch

Rob Shaw (Victoria Times Colonist) -Every few days, a weather-beaten RCMP officer hops in a boat and takes off for Kyuquot, a remote village on Vancouver Island’s rugged northwest coast.

The constable travels and arrives alone. One community. One Mountie. No backup amid the many kilometres of desolate wilderness and ocean.

And that’s pretty much the problem, RCMP officers say. Even though the force instituted a national backup policy in December, designed to protect officers from being alone in dangerous situations, it has proven a logistical conundrum to implement in the Island’s numerous small rural detachments.

Who backs up an officer in a one-, two- or even three-person detachment that handles calls 24 hours a day, while struggling to manage holidays, sick days and training?

“I had a call from a member a couple of weeks back, and this member told me they’d been working and on call for 28 days in a row,” said Scott Warren, the Island’s staff relations representative and a sergeant in Parksville/ Qualicum Beach.

“They said, ‘Thanks for the backup policy, it’s really great.’ And that’s sarcastic. We have to explore those things. We can’t work those people into a level of stress that they can’t recoup from.”

There is frustration among the approximately 850 rank and file on the Island, said Warren, whose staff relations position is as close to a union as the RCMP is legally allowed. Officer workload is already high - a Campbell River officer has an average burden of 131 cases, two times that of Victoria city police (who frequently complain they are burned out) - and now officers are forced to spend off-hours close to work so they can be on call for the necessary backup.

Numerous Island detachments have fewer than four members: two on Zeballos, one on Galiano, one on Mayne Island, two on Texada Island, two in Port Alice, three on Gabriola and so on, Warren said. “As far as I’m concerned, those detachments need to be minimally staffed with four members,” he said.

Officers helped write, and fully support, the backup policy, which was instituted after the death of two RCMP officers in the Far North last year, Warren said. It states multiple officers must go to calls involving violence, domestic disputes, weapons, threats or any other situations where communications are poor and risks high.

At the time, the RCMP acknowledged the new rules would cost tens of millions of dollars to hire more officers. But that has yet to happen on the Island, Warren said, where most communities are policed by the RCMP through a contract with the B.C. government.

“The provincial government has to have a clear understanding of what we are able to provide with the money that we are given to police,” he said. “I think if we cannot provide 24-hour policing service, then there are certain places we probably shouldn’t be policing.”

B.C. Solicitor General John Les said he recognizes the problem. “It is something we’ve got to address, and addressing the issue may well involve additional dollars,” he said.

Neither Les nor Warren could estimate exactly how many officers need to be hired, at what cost. But small communities already pay more for policing, after the province changed funding formulas in 2007. Towns with fewer than 5,000 people used to get free RCMP service from the province. They now pay half the bill, saving the government $20 million a year in rural policing.

Last week’s federal budget left B.C. with $53 million for police. Les said it’s possible some may go to hiring officers in rural areas. But he said one-time funding won’t address long-term staff issues.

One thing the province won’t do is shut down small detachments, Les said. “We’re not going to abandon small communities because of a policy announcement from somewhere else,” he said.

Mike Farnworth, the NDP’s critic for public safety, said the province must address the problem when it renews its contract with the RCMP in 2012. “These issues need to be on the table, and to me it is another reason why, when it comes to public safety, the provincial budget just doesn’t cut it,” he said.

RCMP Island District commander Supt. Rick Betker was not available for comment Friday. However, he has previously said the RCMP plans to integrate smaller Island detachments into regional policing hubs, where schedules and staffing can be better co-ordinated.