WHEREAS municipalities in British Columbia who choose to establish their own municipal forces pay 100 of the costs of policing; AND WHEREAS municipalities in British Columbia who obtain policing services from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP through agreements between the federal and provincial governments pay either 70 for municipalities with a population of between 5,000 and 15,000 or 90 for municipalities with a population in excess of 15,000 of the total expenditures for policing, excluding overtime: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM work with the Province of British Columbia to change the process for funding municipal police services to increase provincial funding for municipal police services so that municipalities with their own police forces receive the same subsidies as those who contract with the RCMP.
Ministry of Justice Municipalities who contract with the RCMP for the provision of police services receive a 10 or 30 per cent benefit on their contract policing costs from the federal government. The basis of the contract policing cost sharing arrangement is the recognition that the federal government receives a benefit from being able to redeploy RCMP resources from a contract community to deal with national emergencies or major events. The Premiers platform, The Families First Agenda for Change, calls for the development of a strategic plan for policing that sets out goals, targets, and performance standards. As part of the development of the strategic plan, the Ministry of Justice is holding a focus group to look at funding models for the provision of police services. It should be noted that the government currently provides funding to local governments through a variety of sources and programs, including the transfer of 100 per cent of traffic fine revenues to local governments for community policing, crime prevention and other initiatives to help make communities safer.