One of the Nova Scotia counties where there was a mass shooting in 2020 plans to explore proposals for local policing, including alternatives to the RCMP.
The Municipality of Cumberland County approved a request for proposals last Wednesday, and said in a news release that it is the result of public consultations in communities around the county.
Nova Scotia’s former Justice Minister, Mayor Murray Scott, has stated in earlier interviews with The Canadian Press that he is concerned about the rising costs associated with the Mounties and is concerned that full staffing will always be available due to illness, holidays and various forms of non-compliance. Not there. holiday.
Scott says in the release council anticipate the RCMP will make an offer to local police services, and it is also possible that municipal police services operating in the area will make an offer.
New NS top Mountie says public wants to keep force despite backlash to mass shooting
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The RCMP has faced a lot of criticism for its handling of the April 18–19, 2022 mass shooting, when 22 people were killed by a gunman driving a replica police vehicle on the second day of the rampage in Cumberland County. Passed through a part.
A public inquiry heard the Mounties did not have protocols in place for issuing public emergency alerts, officers could not be tracked outside their vehicles, and two out of six first responders were not available at the first of the killings. Night
Assistant Commissioner Dennis Daly, the new commander of the RCMP in Nova Scotia, recently told The Canadian Press that he believes the public still wants to keep the RCMP as their provincial police force, and that more efforts are needed to equip and train officers. Deliveries are being improved.
But he said ensuring full staffing is a challenge, as the tight labor market has made it difficult to recruit new executives.
“Like everyone else, we have absences … but we have the ability to pull people from different areas when the need arises,” he said.
Nova Scotia’s contract with the RCMP runs until 2032, and there are regular reviews that build into an agreement that sees municipalities pay for 70 percent of RCMP services while the federal government covers 30 percent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 17, 2022.
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