BC and Feds sign new 20-year RCMP deal

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The BC and federal governments have signed a new 20-year RCMP contract.  

The two sides clashed over negotiations last year, with the Premier Christy Clark and Attorney General Shirley Bond threatening to scrap the RCMP in favour of a provincial force if the terms of the contract weren’t changed.

Under this new deal, BC cities who are policed by the RCMP, which is most of BC, will pay a little more depending on the size.

Cities will pay about 90 per cent of RCMP policing costs, which amounts to about a one per cent increase. However, Ottawa will also now pay 30 per cent of the cost of BC’s combined teams, like the Gang Task Force Unit and Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, as it emphasizes it’s trying to tackle gangs and guns.

Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews say integration is key. “That’s one of the great lessons I think we learned from the Air India Inquiry, about the problem of intelligence and police agencies working in isolation. I think this another good example of how we learned from that very horrible experience.”

People involved with the negotiations say a new Contract Management Committee will give local politicians more say in how RCMP money is spent before it’s actually out the door.

“For the first time we will have the ability to question costs, to look at the break-downs of cost, and to say, ‘Do we really need to have those kinds of things take place in British Columbia?’ That’s an enormous management gain,” believes Bond.

Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender says this new committee will focus on accountability and how to contain rising policing costs. “How much authority do we have, that is going to be part of our relationship with the province and then ultimately with the federal government at the national level as well.”

NDP Solicitor General Critic Mike Farnworth is skeptical about some of the benefits being touted under this new contract.

“I think the real question is going to be whether some of the ‘improvements’ in terms of greater accountability are actually utilized or whether it’s going to be Ottawa or Victoria saying to local government, this is how it’s going to be,” Farnworth tells News1130. “What I don’t want to see, and what they [local governments] certainly don’t want to see, is a status quo agreement like the last 20 years, with no real improvements or opportunity for them to have a say.”

BC cities received the contract last week. They have until the end of April to read it and sign it. If they decide not to, they can set up their own police force or try and partner with another city.

SFU Criminologist Rob Gordon says this new agreement won’t change much. “About the only thing that’s different is the appearance of a Contract Management Committee and their job appears to be to engage in a process of cost containment.”

Gordon calls it disgraceful that BC is relying on a police force run out of Ottawa, claiming RCMP are not accountable enough to provincial and local authorities.

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