Communities in Eastern Charlotte contemplate cutting ties with RCMP

A Charlotte County municipality is once again contemplating dropping the RCMP in favour of a regional police service.

Eastern Charlotte council, which includes the town of St. George and the village of Blacks Harbour in southwestern New Brunswick, has unanimously passed a motion to explore creating its own force.

Coun. Darrell Tidd said the region has seen diminishing service from the RCMP, which has prompted talk of change.

"We're seeing an increase in thefts, vandalism, crime, violence and drug-related activity," said Tidd. 

"We're at the point now that we need to do something here."

Rocky relationship

This isn't the first time the region has explored the idea of dropping RCMP service.

In 2014, St. George and Blacks Harbour, which are located around 16 kilometres apart, proposed a brand new regional police force that would cover both communities and would have no connection with the RCMP.

However, they ended up keeping the national force and abandoning the plan to start their own.

At the time, the communities decided the costs involved with starting a new force were too high.

Now, the issue seems to have come to a head, again.

"We can't even get the RCMP to come to a council meeting anymore to give a monthly report," said Tidd.

"That paints a pretty good picture of how responsive they are."

Tidd said his comments aren't meant to be anything personal against the force, and he understands that the RCMP is being asked to do more with less, but he said the price the municipality is paying is too much for the service they're receiving.

"$2.1 million we'll be paying this year for policing services," said Tidd.

"That's a lot of money to be paying for community-based policing when really it's nonexistent."

In an emailed statement to CBC News, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Stephane Esculier said the force is contracted as the provincial police force in the province and any municipality that would like to change providers should contact the provincial Department of Public Safety.

"Recent announcements for additional resourcing on the front line will allow for increased visibility and engagement in our communities," said Esculier.

"There are always enough RCMP police officers to respond to urgent priority calls, and to ensure public and officer safety."