WHEREAS the BC Sheriff Service has reduced the number of provincial prisoner escorts from northeastern communities from twice a week to once a week, due to manpower resource issues in Northeast BC; AND WHEREAS this service reduction has resulted in provincial prisoners staying in local RCMP detachments for up to one week, thereby increasing the operating cost for these detachments, which do not receive full reimbursement of the expenses incurred to house these prisoners: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM request that the Province of BC reinstate the sheriff provincial prisoner escort service in BC to previous levels to alleviate the increased housing expense that the RCMP detachments are incurring.
Ministry of Attorney General The Ministry of Attorney General appreciates UBCM raising the issue of the frequency of sheriff escort runs in the northeastern communities. Currently, in all northern communities, there is one weekly escort run to depopulate RCMP cells of in-custody persons requiring escort to provincial correctional and other holding facilities. In the northeastern communities, the frequency of escort runs was reduced from two runs per week to one run several years ago. This change was made in order that limited staffing resources could be redeployed to perform court security duties in the local courthouses. As UBCM is aware, these are challenging economic times and all areas of the provincial government are affected, including Sheriff Services. All Ministries are expected to stay within their allotted budget and Sheriff Services, as part of the Ministry of Attorney General, is no exception.
British Columbia Sheriff Service At this time there are no additional funds available to add extra escort runs, but the BC Sheriff Service works to allocate the resources available to us in the most efficient way possible to provide the best service we can to all areas of the province. We will continue to review our operations and make adjustments as needed, and possible, to ensure continued access for all communities.