Western Manitoba municipality residents worry about response times after local police force dissolved

Some western Manitoba residents are calling for more provincial and RCMP support to keep their communities safe after a more than 100-year-old police force in the region was dismantled this year.

For 111 years, the Rivers Police Service served the town of Rivers, about 30 kilometres north of Brandon, and the surrounding municipality of Riverdale.

But that ended this year, after the province decided RCMP would take over coverage of the town and municipality, which have a combined population of around 2,000.

Riverdale Mayor Heather Lamb says the force was shuttered without input from the municipality, and the change leaves people there feeling less safe. She wants the province to restore the police service.

"It is very disappointing, but ... what we have to remain focused on is continuing to have the best police service that we can for our community," she said.

The Rivers Police Service struggled with coverage this year — four staff, including its chief, left in the first half of 2024, Lamb said. To give the municipality time to recruit, an interim arrangement was made with the RCMP.

But in June, a letter from Manitoba Justice ended the operations of the Rivers Police Service, saying Blue Hills RCMP would assume responsibility for policing in the municipality.

At the time, the municipality was in the process of hiring a new officer, Lamb said.

"That was very disappointing ... in our most vulnerable time, that we didn't have staff and we're doing our best to hire, that we were just sort of taken advantage of and just shut down."

The municipality still has an active officer helping transfer files to the RCMP.

Asked about the interim agreement being made permanent, Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the focus is on providing coverage to the community, but nothing is set in stone when it comes to the future of policing in Riverdale.

"We're happy to understand the unique concerns and situation," he told CBC. "But ultimately, my obligation is to make sure that we have the right resources … in that area."

Wiebe says the province wants to get a better picture of expenses and understand the overlap in coverage in Riverdale.

Lamb said the municipality received a list of new standards it would have to meet under the Police Service Act to hire new officers, but the costs of training, equipment and other demands were too high for a small municipality.

If the province won't help bring the service back, Lamb wants to see more RCMP officers hired.

In an email, the RCMP said the Blue Hills detachment is fully staffed with 15 officers, and there are no plans to add additional staff.

Grant Jackson, the Progressive Conservative MLA for the Spruce Woods riding, raised concerns during last Monday's question period at the legislature about the state of Riverdale policing. 

Jackson told CBC he's calling for fair compensation to help Riverdale cover the costs of winding down its police service and getting more positions added to the Blue Hills RCMP. 

"They have a fairly high standard of police presence that they expect," he said. "Through no fault of their own, but through a unilateral decision from this minister … they no longer have a municipal police force."

Stretched thin

But the mayor of one southwestern community says even before Riverdale joined the mix, Blue Hills RCMP already had a large catchment area, serving the outskirts of Brandon, as well as Carberry and Souris.

"RCMP members are getting very stretched thin on their staffing, which is … no fault of their own," said Carberry Mayor Ray Muirhead.

The latest monthly crime statistics available from Manitoba RCMP, for the month of December 2023, indicate calls for service in western Manitoba were up 13 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier. There was also a 37 per cent rise in crimes against property year over year.

Earlier this year, the Town of Carberry and the Rural Municipality of North Cypress-Langford sent a letter to the federal and provincial justice ministers, asking for increased RCMP presence in rural communities.

Wiebe says RCMP are working on recruitment, but there are still shortages in rural Manitoba. The province is also looking at different models that could complement the RCMP, like the community safety officer program.

The closure of the Rivers Police Service might be a tipping point that forces rural RCMP policing to change, whether that means shifting boundary lines or recruitment strategies, said Muirhead.

"Say there's an accident.… Suddenly you're waiting an hour because RCMP are coming from Rivers," he said.

Ingrid Blankenspoor, who lives in Rivers, shares those concerns. She says she felt safe raising her daughters in Rivers because the police officers were their neighbours.

Without the community's police service, there's a sense of nervousness in the community, because they don't know how far away RCMP are or who the responding officers will be, she said.

"They are not around the corner here anymore.… They are serving such a big area already, so it will be hard to get a hold of them."

But Garth Ventnor, who has lived in Rivers for 50 years, says as a taxpayer, the end of the police service was a relief. The old service was not as efficient as it should have been and a shakeup was in order, he says.

"I think Rivers could live without a police service, with the RCMP doing what they're doing for us," he said. "If they do come back, I would love to see a small little … affordable service set up, and maybe a resident police officer."