Is police funding unfair? The Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce thinks so, and is hoping some changes could save local taxpayers millions of dollars.
The chamber wants to form a coalition to lobby the provincial and federal governments for equitable funding.
“Twelve municipalities in British Columbia have their own police forces and are responsible for 100 per cent of their policing costs,” said chamber board chair Patricia Sapielak.
She said smaller communities utilizing the RCMP receive a 30 per cent subsidy, and communities with a population of more than 15,000 receive a 10 per cent grant from senior governments.
If Abbotsford were to receive 10 per cent on its 2011 $40.6 million police budget, it would amount to just over $4 million.
“We’ve been banging this drum for years, as has our police board,” said Abbotsford Mayor George Peary.
He called the funding “discrimination,” noting the local police force does as good a job as any funded RCMP detachment.
“Drug enforcement in Canada is supposed to be done by the RCMP,” said Peary. But he added Abbotsford handles plenty of drug-related crime.
And he doesn’t buy the provincial government’s argument that the funding is provided because, in case of a national security situation, RCMP can be called away from their jurisdictions.
“We had 13 officers at the Olympics this year,” he pointed out.
Peary said the $4 million could add a lot of officers, or upgrades to the police department.
He supports the chamber’s efforts.
With a new provincial contract with the RCMP looming (in early 2012) the chamber wants interested parties to band together and lobby for funding equity.
“Throughout the negotiating process, working towards a new contract with the RCMP, no mention has been made of the gross inequity that currently exists between communities contracted with the RCMP through the provincial government and those with municipal police forces,” said Sapielak.
In 2009, the federal and provincial government contributions to policing in B.C. totalled in excess of $517 million, none of which was spent on municipal forces.
According to the chamber, it is unfair the communities with municipal policing representing over 1.26 million residents – or 28.3 per cent of the B.C. population – and get no police funding. Policing costs are the single largest portion of the total municipal tax bill.
“Exacerbating the problem is that the residents and business owners of these municipalities, also directly subsidize the costs of policing in neighbouring communities using the RCMP through provincial and federal personal and corporate income taxes,” said chamber executive director David D. Hull.
“Really what you have is fiscal insult added to inequitable policing funding injury.”
Hull said crime tends to move towards areas of least resistance, which should be a concern to everyone.
“Crime doesn’t recognize, or stop at, geopolitical boundaries. If your community abuts an inequitably funded municipal force you should rightly be concerned.”
The Abbotsford chamber has sent a letter to Peary, with a copy to the mayors and councils of the other 11 affected communities, asking them to join the effort.
“It adds more voices to the chorus, so it can’t hurt,” said Peary.
Other B.C. communities who have municipal police forces include: Delta, Nelson, Oak Bay, Saanich, Central Saanich, Victoria, West Vancouver, New Westminster, Port Moody, Esquimalt and Vancouver