Whereas the provision of police services places a significant financial burden on local government; And whereas the Civil Forfeiture Crime Prevention and Crime Remediation Grant Program funds community crime reduction and crime prevention activities, but does not address local government policing costs, including expenditures related to investigations and police work that result in seizures of proceeds of crime: Therefore be it resolved that the Province share seizures of proceeds of crime with local governments to help address protective services costs.
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Under British Columbias Police Act, a municipality is responsible for its police services when its population exceeds 5,000 persons. These municipalities may form their own municipal police department, contract with an existing municipal police department, or contract with the provincial government for RCMP municipal police services. Under the Traffic Fine Revenue Sharing Program, the Provincial Government transfers 100 percent of net revenues from traffic violations to municipalities that are directly responsible for paying for policing. This provides municipalities additional funds to support community safety and address local policing priorities. Transfer grant amounts are based on a municipalitys policing costs relative to the total policing costs paid by all municipalities. Rural communities and municipalities with populations under 5,000 benefit by receiving a reduction in the Police Tax they pay. The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General supports community-based crime prevention and remediation programming through the Civil Forfeiture Crime Prevention and Remediation Grant Program. This grant program provides one-time funding for crime prevention and remediation projects through the proceeds from the civil forfeiture process. Priority areas for grants are established on a year-by-year basis through consideration of governments current strategic priorities. Some of the funding streams from previous years include: Police Equipment and Training; Crime Reduction and Crime Prevention; Indigenous Healing and Rebuilding; Violence against Women Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault; Human Trafficking, Sexual Exploitation and Vulnerable Women in the Sex Trade; and Restorative Justice. Since 2006, government has invested over 43 million in BC communities through this grant program. Since 201617 1.8 million has been provided to police agencies for equipment and training needs. A call for applications for the program typically occurs annually each fall.