Moncton wants more data before decision on keeping RCMP

Moncton councillors want more information before deciding whether to keep the RCMP or create a new municipal force.

Councillors opted Monday to request an analysis of the Codiac Regional RCMP's workload. 

Consulting firm Perivale + Taylor released a policing study earlier this month recommending the analysis.

The report estimated keeping the Codiac RCMP could save Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview $130 million over 15 years.

But the consultants said they had challenges examining police workload as a result of internal RCMP systems tracking cases and officer deployment.

The next steps in dealing with the report was the topic of a portion of a council committee meeting Monday. A special committee with Councillors Daniel Bourgeois, Charles Léger and Bryan Butler will gather questions still unanswered ahead of further debate. 

Léger called for the workload analysis, saying the consultants reported the information was available but could take six weeks to three months to complete. 

"I think that the workload analysis is the crux of all of this, and we need to figure that out so that we can make informed decisions," Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said Monday. 

The analysis was something the consultants said would need to be carried out to know how many officers the RCMP or a new force needs to adequately police the region. 

"Unless you know how much work there is, it's hard to say how many staff you need," Robert Taylor, a vice-president of Perivale + Taylor, told reporters Oct. 5.

Taylor said the issue came down to the way the RCMP systems log cases and officer activity.

"We need every activity on the street to be logged into the system, as unless it's logged, we can't analyze it," Taylor said. 

Arnold said she expects the RCMP will be cooperative with the workload analysis, pointing to a statement from the RCMP J Division assistant commissioner supporting the consultant's findings. 

"We appreciate and accept the recommendations identified in the study," DeAnna Hill said in the statement. 

Moncton staff were recommending setting the Nov. 20 council meeting for a public debate ahead of the ultimate decision on policing. 

However, several councillors appeared to want further information before then. Coun. Daniel Bourgeois proposed the information-gathering committee. 

Butler raised the idea that the decision could wait until next year, even as late as March, to allow travelling to get more information. Butler didn't specify where he thought they might go.

Others seemed ready for a faster decision, though. 

"I think we need to have some sense of urgency because the men and women who work at Codiac would like to know what our thought process is and where we're going," Léger said. 

The decision won't be made by Moncton alone, though it covers 70 per cent of the Codiac RCMP budget. 

Dieppe and Riverview will also need to make decisions about the policing study. Mayors of both communities indicated earlier this month that they believed their councils may opt to stay with RCMP. 

"I expect that there will be no major changes to our relationship with the RCMP," Dieppe Mayor Yvon Lapierre said in an interview Oct. 5.