Western Standard - Let's get on with creating a provincial police force!

00:00:00.000 So, I mean, last week I interviewed Kevin Halwa of the National Police Federation on their

00:00:03.780 initiative opposing the formation of a provincial police force in Alberta. He made some good points,

00:00:08.620 but for the most part, I felt they were pretty weak. I mean, he is with a police union and it's

00:00:12.220 focused on the interest of the union rather than the public. And I don't fault them for that. That's

00:00:16.260 just what their job is and that's what they're about. But it does make me question their

00:00:19.320 motivations. Halwa did point out some reports claiming, you know, the formation of a provincial

00:00:24.160 police force would come at a high cost. And this is true. I mean, everything from new branding to

00:00:29.260 training facilities to cars to office facilities, I mean, it all has to be created or transferred

00:00:34.420 and it's going to cost a lot of money. That cost will be worth it though. I mean, to begin with,

00:00:39.920 the RCMP don't come free to the province. They're not some kind of gift, you know, from Ottawa.

00:00:44.600 They're a contracted force and Alberta taxpayers have to pay for it. They're leased, essentially.

00:00:50.340 We don't own them, but we pay for them. Some people maintain a misconception sometimes that the RCMP

00:00:55.280 is some sort of federal expense and we would be giving something away by not maintaining them

00:00:59.780 as our primary force in the province. And that's just not true. Every dollar spent on the RCMP

00:01:04.140 services right now by the province could be dedicated to a provincial police force and it

00:01:08.980 should. The RCMP wouldn't be going away totally. They'll remain as a federal force, at least while

00:01:15.380 Alberta is still within confederation, and scale down a great deal. They'd be something more akin to

00:01:19.780 the American FBI than a regular police force that's on the ground. And the RCMP, I mean,

00:01:25.540 let's face it, they've been hopelessly politicized. We've seen that in their reticence to follow

00:01:29.880 through on criminal charges with the prime minister over the Aga Khan affair, despite their

00:01:33.440 statement. This is from the RCMP saying they felt there were reasonable grounds that fraud was

00:01:37.740 committed, but they said it wouldn't be in the public interest to follow through with charges on

00:01:41.440 the prime minister. Well, isn't it in the public, you know, it isn't in the public's interest

00:01:46.960 to have a prime minister who escapes criminal charges due to being the one who directly

00:01:51.040 appoints the head of the national police force? That's what the problem is. The public interest

00:01:55.360 had nothing to do with the RCMP decision. It was the interest of senior members in the

00:01:59.200 force knew that charging a prime minister would cost them their jobs. We've seen evidence of

00:02:03.380 political interference from the prime minister's office into criminal investigations, whether it's

00:02:07.740 the Nova Scotia shooting, or, you know, quite recently, or the SNC-Lavana affair. We have a

00:02:12.880 government that doesn't think twice about violating rules and laws as they pursue

00:02:16.800 their own and mask their own corruption. If members of the government are above the law

00:02:20.440 of the land, we don't live in a democracy. A provincial police force won't be able to

00:02:24.820 hold the federal government responsible for itself, but it will free Alberta police, Alberta

00:02:29.460 from the police actions directed by the federal government. Why should Albertans pay for a force

00:02:34.060 that's going to act against the interests of the province and the direction of the feds? I mean,

00:02:38.400 for example, it's clear the federal government wants to disarm the nation. They're doing it

00:02:41.840 incrementally through orders in council, as we've seen with the handgun freeze. And rest assured,

00:02:46.260 there's going to be a seizure of firearms coming. And when it comes to that, let the government,

00:02:50.560 federal government, spend every penny then to track down and try and take the property from

00:02:54.520 those law-abiding firearm owners in Alberta. We may not be able to stop the seizure while being

00:03:00.000 within Confederation, but we sure don't have to aid the government in doing it. Let their little

00:03:05.120 RCMP force try to deal with it. It's their job. Our provincial force could then just focus on real

00:03:09.780 crime in the meantime. Localized policing would be more effective for the province anyways, particularly in

00:03:15.500 rural areas. Mandates and priorities would be based on provincial needs rather than federal

00:03:19.840 ideologies. Police members wouldn't constantly be parachuted across the country into regions where

00:03:24.280 they have few connections and no understanding of the local culture or community that they're now with

00:03:29.600 as the RCMP. Then a new provincial force could be crafted with a more modern mandate too. I mean,

00:03:35.940 morale is terribly low among RCMP members right now, and the workplace culture has put pressure on a lot

00:03:41.720 of them, particularly women. This myth might not be repairable with the RCMP, but can be addressed and

00:03:47.520 avoided if a brand new force takes these things into account upon its creation. So yes, a provincial

00:03:52.160 police force would cost more during its initial formation, but it'll be worth every penny. The status

00:03:57.600 quo is going to cost us a hell of a lot more in the long run if we let a government obsessed with

00:04:01.320 control assistance continue to control our local policing.

Western Standard - August 08, 2022

Let's get on with creating a provincial police force!

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