Creating a provincial police force to replace the RCMP would be akin to recreating the wheel, according to Richmond’s mayor who was responding to a recent provincial report on police reform.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said he doesn’t understand the rationale for a recent provincial recommendation to create a B.C.-wide police force, which he thinks would be costly, disruptive and not necessarily beneficial to all communities.
“Just the stress and the upheaval, it’s hard to think it’s worthwhile, and that’s not even getting into the cost,” Brodie said.
The RCMP is already a provincial police force and, in fact, Richmond was “forced” to sign a 20-year contract with them by the province in 2012, he pointed out.
“If they’re not doing the job, surely, rather than thinking that a shiny new object called the provincial police is going to solve your problems, why not solve them with the RCMP?” Brodie said.
The Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act, which released its report last week, made several recommendations including creating a provincial police force with municipal or regional boards.
But Brodie said the integrated RCMP, for example, IHIT and the collision investigation team, already take care of cross-jurisdictional issues.
“If something is not working, you need to buttress and supplement the integrated teams,” he added.
The police reform report also focused on social and cultural issues within policing, saying there’s a need for a “continuum of response” to social problems like mental health and addictions.
It also recommended improving and standardizing training to “shift police culture” – for example, having regular psychological assessments for all police officers – and improving education with respect to “anti-racism, cultural competency and trauma-informed practices.”
The committee also recommended having civilian-led oversight for complaints, investigations and discipline.
While Richmond might fare well with a more regional police force, Brodie said smaller communities might not be as happy with the service they receive, something he’s seen both in government and the corporate world.
“When you have large combined with smaller, the larger always does very well and the smaller loses out,” Brodie said. “Maybe that’s a benefit to Richmond being one of the larger ones, but you’re never going to have all the areas in the regions and cities and centres getting the level of services that they require.”
In 2012, after Richmond signed a 20-year contract with the RCMP, something Brodie said they were “forced” by the province to do, the city underwent a review of the police force’s services in 2016, concluding the city wanted to keep the RCMP.
And Brodie said the Richmond RCMP detachment is currently “very responsive” to the needs of the city, pointing out last week city council added a priority – fighting racism – to the RCMP’s work plan for 2022/23.
