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NEWS: Agriculture threatened if Fraser River gets too salty
! Horse and Carriage rides were on tap for Steveston visitors last Sunday to coincide with Christmas in Steveston events held at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery museum. This Saturday Santa Claus will visit the village for more festive fun. Photo by Gord Goble / Special to the News
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! See more festive pictures in Destination Steveston, pages 16-17, and online at Richmond-News.com.
COFFEE WITH... Mountie, 89, still aims to serve 12 and protect
Police transition to cost $20M Mayor Brodie asks residents to weigh pros and cons of creating city force Graeme Wood
Staff Reporter gwood@richmond-news.com
R
ichmond residents will soon be asked to make a choice: Keep the Mounties, or pay more for local control of policing in their community. A new report from the City of Richmond indicates transitioning to a municipal police force would cost close to of $20 million. The report was drafted following a request from Richmond city council, which, on the whole, has expressed concerns about local control and oversight of the Richmond RCMP detachment. In addition to the one-time transition costs, it is estimated that a municipal force will cost about seven per cent — or $3
million — more to operate on an annual basis, meaning a 1.5 per cent increase to property taxes. Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said public consultation is forthcoming, and while he did not want to prejudice his own opinion before hearing from residents, he said he was concerned about the costs laid out in the report. When asked what precipitated the request from council, Brodie said issues with the Richmond RCMP were mostly at the higher levels and did not have to do with any particular problems on the ground, with officers (for example, a growing class action lawsuit concerning bullying of females in the force). “You’ve got fundamental issues with governance. A local force
would have a municipal police board chaired by the mayor, and then city council gets one other appointee,” said Brodie. A board would set budgets, determine policing needs, review staff performance, hire the chief constable, and handle labour relations and discipline. The biggest point of contention from city hall, said Brodie, has been decisions made by Ottawa that appear to circumvent local input — namely a new, $1 billion regional RCMP detachment (Green Timbers) in Surrey. “The situation over Green Timbers probably epitomizes the problem. The RCMP and federal government decided to build a new facility in Surrey. It is gigantic; they never decided who was going in there and what
the cost would be. And the cost remains an outstanding point of contention. The province — it is my understanding, — is working on this, and they’ve met great resistance,” said Brodie, who is concerned municipalities in E-Division (Western Canada) will be stuck with part of the bill. Brodie said, with the report, a decision to turf the RCMP now comes down to weighing the benefits of more local control versus the costs associated with a transition. Brodie said residents would have to contrast paying more money for a municipal force with having a local detachment where decisions are being made in Ottawa and “very often there’s no consultation, no discussion, or See Mountie page 4
BUSINESS: It was selfietime at the Business Excellence Awards. B1
SPORTS: Richmond Senior Boys Basketball season preview 18
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