Wednesday, February 15, 2023 Vol. 46, No. 07
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Your LOCAL Paper!
Minister questioned on Municipal Front-Line policing costs Jana Semeniuk Staff Reporter
During an online roundtable discussion Jan. 24 between members of the media and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis around rural crime, Caribou Publishing questioned the minister around the policing costs put upon small municipalities and what they are getting for their money. In 2020, municipalities under 5000 began paying a portion of front-line policing costs with the promise of additional RCMP officers and civilian support staff. The amount each municipality was charged, according to a letter from the Justice and Solicitor General, was the result of a calculation based on population, equalized assessment, crime severity, shadow population and detachment location. Over the
past three years, since 2020, the Town of Tofield, and Villages of Ryley and Holden have collectively spent $233,000 in front line policing costs with the numbers set to increase for 2023. Last month, Sergent Charles Brown of the Tofield RCMP detachment, which covers Tofield, Holden, and Ryley, confirmed that the detachment has sat at the same number of six members for at least the past 10 years. Caribou Publishing asked Minister Ellis where the front-line policing money was spent if it did not result in additional RCMP members for the area. “We provide money to the RCMP. It's not about money,” he said. “We have been providing money to the RCMP and increasing that funding for the last several years. The problem is that the RCMP just do not have enough human
beings to provide the contracted services and that is not exclusive to Alberta.” A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and released by the provincial government in 2021, revealed that the provincial government contributes about $500 million to the RCMP in Alberta per year in a cost-sharing agreement where the federal government also contributes $170 million. In a follow-up email with Dylan Topal, press secretary to Minister Ellis, he indicated that since 2020, 131 new officers and 98 new support staff were added to Alberta detachments. This year, he said the number of officers and civilian positions added to the province will continue to grow, with an additional 40 officers and 52 civilian support positions. In terms of where in Alberta the new officers and support staff were deployed, he said he did not
have the answer. “The RCMP, like all police services in Alberta, makes operational decisions about matters like deployment independently from the government,” he said. “The RCMP decides where to deploy officers based on its analysis of factors like calls for service, crime trends and local knowledge and intelligence.” Media RCMP spokesperson Troy Savinkoff responded to our email requesting the information and said that the total number of new members did not necessarily mean that many new boots on the ground. He said some of the new members went to criminal operations units, and not front line. He added that he does not know how many criminal operations units are in Alberta. Savinkoff said by email that 41 Continued on Page 8
Provincial Curling Championship has local connections Leslie Cholowsky Staff Reporter
One day in at the 2023 Boston Pizza Cup Men’s Provincial Curling Championship held Feb. 8 through 12 at the River Cree in Edmonton, local resident Iris Gira posted a photo of her eldest son, Kris, and her great-nephew Karrick both poised to represent their teams in the championship in friendly competition. Kris Gira was playing with Team Kozak, and Karrick, son of Curling legend Kevin Martin, was playing on Team Koe. Team Kozak lost their first draw against Team Vavrek on Wednesday, 82, then a second, against Team Jacques, on Friday, 7-5. On Saturday they came up early against Team Sturmay 9-3, knocked out of the championship. Team Koe won their first match on Thursday against Team Cross, moving on to play against Team Sturmay later that night, winning that draw 8-4. On
Friday Team Koe won the draw against Sluchinski in an 8-7 final to go to the B qualifier against Team Jacques, winning that 6-5. Meanwhile Karrick’s former team, Bottcher, worked their way through the A final to face off against his new team, Koe. The A1 v. B1 final went to Bottcher 6-5, but after Koe beat team Sluchinksi 6-2 to win a spot in the Championship final, things swung the other way, with a fatal mistake by Team Bottcher and excellent play from Team Koe giving Team Koe a 6-5 win. Next stop for both is the Brier, where Karrick Martin has taken Silver in 2018 and 2019, Gold in 2021, and Bronze in 2022. Martin takes after his famous father Kevin, who played in 12 Briers, and three Olympics, coming away with Gold in 2010 for Canada. During the pandemic, Karrick brought the Brier to Grandfather Ab Martin, in Lougheed, where four generations of Martins posed with the cup.
Kris Gira (left) representing Team Kozak, and cousin Karrick Martin, representing Team Koe meet at the 2023 Boston Pizza Men’s Championship last weekend in Edmonton.