The current model of policing in BC is that we have a separate police force for each municipal government - most of those are provided by the RCMP E Division. This model makes no sense to me given that most of the work of the police force is the enforcement of law on behalf of the Solicitor General of BC.
The time has come in BC to have policing come directly under the control of the provincial government and take it out of the hand of the local governments. The various small specialty police forces should also come under this one police force.
The benefits that arise from this is that there will be one law enforcement agency throughout BC that can act through out BC. There would the ability to have more and better services through having efficiencies. It would also allow for a lot more specialization because of the size of the single police agency. It would also mean the police would no longer handle bylaw infractions - something I have considered a complete waste of time for trained police officers to be doing.
It would also then make sense for BC to have it's own police force and no longer make use of the RCMP for policing in BC.
The transition of policing to the province would move a cost of $1.2 billion from local governments to the province. This is a bit of a hit for the province, but if it were phased in over five years the province would be able to take the burden without too much difficulty. It would also open up budget space for local governments to reduce taxes.
I am sure someone has a down side to doing this, but I can not see what it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment