Saskatchewan RCMP commanding officer questions value of new marshals service

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This article was published 17/11/2022 (1297 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SASKATOON – The commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP says she is uncertain about the value of a new marshals service that the provincial government promised in the latest throne speech.

Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said she has questions about the purpose of funding a new police service instead of injecting that money into the RCMP.

“Our one question is: ‘What is the focus of putting new equipment on the street with a new police service and why is there an advantage to that as opposed to giving those resources to the RCMP?'” Blackmore said Thursday during a panel on rural crime at a Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention in Saskatoon.

Blackmore said Mounties are already established — the force has buildings, vehicles and equipment — and an increase in funding could help put more officers on the roads.

The governing Saskatchewan Party said it would commit $20 million annually to the new marshals service. It is expected to be operational by 2026 and include 70 officers.

Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said she expects to receive more feedback about the new police force, including more detailed conversations with policing partners, rural municipalities and First Nations in the future.

“We are very, very early on in this process,” she said in Regina.

Tell said the service will not be for front-line policing, but is intended to tackle more complex policing issuesthat currently aren’t being addressed.

The province has said the marshals service would have police authority throughout the province and its duties would include responding to areas with high crime rates, apprehending offenders with outstanding warrants and investigating farming-related offences.

The marshals service would support RCMP operations where appropriate, the province has said.

“It’s not an either/or here,” Tell said.

Saskatchewan currently spends $211 million a year on RCMP, Tell said. The province is responsible for 70 per cent of operating costs and the federal government covers the remainder.

Opposition NDP justice critic Nicole Sarauer said other provinces that brought in provincial police forces found the implementation to be costly and ineffective.

There arealso concerns the service would compete with RCMP and municipal police for recruits, Sarauer said.

“It is unclear why the government is creating an entirely new force instead of working with the RCMP and existing municipal police forces to improve services in rural communities,” Sarauer said in an email.

The province has seen a 25 per cent increase in violent crime in recent years and there has been a smaller increase in rural property crime, Blackmore said.

She said policing in Saskatchewan is complex due to the size of the province.

“You can’t put a police officer on every corner.”

She said the Mounties asked for extra funds from the province earlier this year.

It would be used, among other things, to help increase funding for administrative personnel at detachments whose work has increased significantly, Blackmore said. She said it has resulted in some front-line officers being stuck at desks doing administrative work.

“(The funding would) put police officers back on the street doing the work that they should be doing,” Blackmore said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2022.

— With files from Mickey Djuric in Regina