Provincial Government Policing

525 Words2 Pages

Today, many municipalities, in collaboration with their provinces, are reverting from having the RCMP subcontracted to police their municipalities to having an established municipal police force. It is not uncommon for municipalities to have their own police forces, as they are constitutionally obligated to provide such an institution for their citizens. One of the main reasons believed to be why local police forces are more beneficial to the people within a municipality than the RCMP is accountability. With a municipal police force, local governments have control over the actions of their police agencies. Having a permanent municipal police force and simply contracting the work of the RCMP for the province limits the power of the federal government …show more content…

There is federal non-civilian oversight, the RCMP reflects national priorities as well as the local, decisions are made at local and national levels, nation-wide policies are enforced, officers are recruited and transferred for cross-Canada postings, the Chief Officer is decided by the RCMP, and with the cost sharing model, the RCMP and federal government are permitted to retain partial control over detachment resources, including required deployments to emergencies and major events (Surrey Police Services, 2024). To effectively ensure police and other government actors do not abuse the powers they have given to citizens, it is essential to have reliable, transparent systems of accountability in place. If the provincial government wants to carry out policies efficiently, direct control of the police must be retained; having direct control of the police overrules the fact that contracting the RCMP to police locally is less costly (Lin, 2007). Local police services better reflect the interests of municipalities; provincial and municipal police forces provide better police services as they are more responsive to local needs, culture, and financial concerns than the federally controlled RCMP (Lunney,

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