RCMP Funding Arrangements

WHEREAS the Police Services Division of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia negotiates the terms and conditions of all provincial RCMP policing contracts with the federal government; AND WHEREAS the Police Act of British Columbia requires that municipalities of more than 5,000 residents provide their own policing services When a municipality retains the services of the RCMP to provide those services, payment of the provincially agreed upon rate is either made directly to the federal government or to the federal government via the provincial government.; AND WHEREAS during the 1992 negotiations between the federal Solicitor General and the provincial negotiating team it was agreed that the Province would be responsible for 90 of the share of the RCMP costs in communities with more than 15,000 residents and for 70 of the costs in communities with less than 15,000 residents; AND WHEREAS recent years have seen an increase in crime in British Columbia requiring additional policing resource: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the federal and provincial governments be urged to renegotiate the provincialfederal cost sharing agreements to increase the federal share to 30 funding, to enable municipalities to further increase their crime fighting and prevention resources; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities be urged to lobby the federal and provincial governments in support of this motion.