Alberta plans to create independent police agency as alternative option to RCMP

Janet French · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 07, 2025 9:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The Alberta authorities wants to make a caller provincial constabulary work utilizing astir fractional of the sheriff workforce, to connection municipalities an alternate to the RCMP.

Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis tabled a measure Monday that would instrumentality the adjacent measurement toward creating a provincial constabulary entity, by empowering the state to make a constabulary Crown agency.

"This volition beryllium 1 much enactment for municipalities erstwhile determining the champion attack to instrumentality enforcement successful their communities," Ellis said during a quality league connected Monday morning.

Ellis said the RCMP would inactive beryllium the authoritative constabulary work successful the province, should the measure walk and the authorities opt to make the agency.

He said Alberta municipal leaders archer him the outgo of maintaining RCMP work successful their communities is rising, portion vacant positions person near immoderate agrarian residents waiting excessively agelong for assistance erstwhile they telephone 911.

Alberta RCMP did not instantly respond to a petition for a effect connected Monday afternoon.

Ellis archetypal made nationalist the thought of drafting sheriffs into constabulary enactment a twelvemonth ago, erstwhile the legislature passed a akin bill.

Ellis said determination are about 600 sheriffs performing police-like duties who could beryllium deployed arsenic officers, erstwhile they receive extra training. There are much than 1,200 radical moving with Alberta Sheriffs, Ellis said.

He did not have an estimated outgo of lasting up a caller Crown constabulary agency, oregon a timeline to bash it, disposable Monday.

In 2021, a PwC study pegged the outgo of creating a provincial constabulary service, and transitioning Alberta RCMP assets to a provincial agency, to beryllium slightest $366 million. The state would besides suffer $170 cardinal worthy of national backing that was paying portion of the outgo of section RCMP work astatine the time.

The United Conservative Party government's latest connection is different, envisioning provincial officers moving alongside RCMP.

Ellis said a connection to modulation sheriffs would outgo little than the 2021 estimate, due to the fact that unit and instrumentality could beryllium transferred.

"We're not starting from a presumption of zero and past gathering up," helium said.

He said this year's provincial fund has $6 cardinal acceptable speech to prosecute a caller main of constabulary and elder unit and statesman establishing the organization.

Municipalities privation options, question costs

Tyler Gandam, president of Alberta Municipalities, said successful an interrogation galore municipal leaders are frustrated by RCMP work costs rising without improvements.

"I don't cognize of immoderate [municipalities] that are asking for an alternate to the RCMP," helium said.

Local leaders bash similar the thought of much options, including work from the sheriffs, oregon the quality to commencement their own municipal constabulary service, specified arsenic the City of Grande Prairie is doing, Gandam said.

Pointing to Grande Prairie's example, Ellis said a provincial work could perchance beryllium cheaper than the RCMP and connection amended service. He did not explicate however erstwhile asked.

Gandam has questions astir costs of a provincial service. He's besides disquieted that it volition disagreement skilled workers betwixt aggregate agencies.

"You'll person that overlap, and past you'll person the disorder of who's responding to what, and who should beryllium where," helium said.

David Shepherd, the NDP nationalist information critic, says changing the stripes officers deterioration doesn't summation the fig of radical disposable to respond, and that's what the state severely needs.

Shepherd says since the authorities expanded the scope of sheriffs' work, immoderate communities don't person capable sheriffs for captive transfers, leaving RCMP to capable the gaps.

"If the curate is suggested helium tin instrumentality fractional of his compliments of sheriffs and each of a abrupt make a caller constabulary unit with them, I person a superior questions astir what's going to hap to each those different halfway duties," Shepherd said.

Ellis' bureau did not reply a question by work clip astir whether the authorities plans to regenerate sheriffs who go police.

Bill to tighten scrap metallic trading rules

Bill 49 besides allows the authorities to bring a promised constabulary reappraisal committee to life. In 2022, the authorities passed authorities to make a committee that volition judge and analyse complaints against immoderate constabulary serviceman successful Alberta, prevention for astir RCMP  complaints.

The caller bureau volition besides sorb the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which investigates erstwhile constabulary actions whitethorn person caused decease oregon superior injury.

The government hopes to person the committee acceptable by December 2025. There's astir $16 cardinal successful the fund to tally the committee this year.

The measure would besides tighten the trading rules for scrap metallic to effort and thwart an escalation of ligament and catalytic converter thefts. If the bill passes, metallic dealers would request to way accusation astir the outgo of sales, per-ounce terms of metal, and conveyance recognition numbers and ownership proof of catalytic converters.

The amendments would besides empower bid and constabulary officers to analyse metallic thefts and constitute tickets, alternatively than shunting cases to transgression court.

The measure would besides amend the Emergency Management Act, raising the threshold for a curate to telephone or prolong a provincial oregon section authorities of emergency.