Municipal leaders divided on Alberta government policing plan

Alberta's government is getting pushback from some municipal leaders and support from others over its plan to build the sheriffs into a second provincial police service.

At the Alberta Municipalities convention in Red Deer on Friday, Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis got an earful from Coun. Ed Cole with the Village of Alix.

"To be blunt, when are we going to put this Alberta provincial police to rest? Eight in 10 Albertans want to keep the RCMP," he said.

"We can't afford this. Let's put the money back into the RCMP budget where it belongs," said Cole.

His comments were met with enthusiastic cheers and applause from about 1,000 attendees.

It comes as the province works to expand the role of the sheriffs, and after Premier Danielle Smith said it's looking to open up new local detachments and expand training.

The government also plans to establish regional policing committees, raising questions about who will have policing authority in smaller municipalities.

Ellis said it's unacceptable that calls to the police aren't being answered quickly enough, especially in rural areas.

"I am trying to get officers on the street. The independent policing service that is being created is being done because there has been an enormous request, from not just municipalities, but from jurisdictions across Alberta," he said.

He said the sheriffs are meant to augment and support other police services, but the RCMP is 400 officers short, a number the Mounties disputed Friday.

Ellis said if communities want to stick with their RCMP contract, he respects that, but communities that want other services should be respected, too.

"I'm trying to empower you," he said to a round of applause.

RCMP say they have a total of 1,772 police officer positions in Alberta under the provincial contract and 306, or 17 per cent, of those are vacant. Of the vacancies, 124 are unfilled while the rest are officers on leave, including sick and maternity leave.

Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam, who is the mayor of the City of Wetaskiwin, said he supports the expanded role of the Alberta sheriffs.

"Any chance that we get to increase safety for our residents across the province is a good thing, without a doubt," he said.

Speaking to reporters, Cole said the province doesn't have the resources, including appropriate training centres, for sheriffs. He said he wants the province to be more transparent about potential costs.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Thursday he's hearing from municipal leaders that they're confused about the province's policing plan.

"Taking on an Alberta provincial police force and starting from scratch is the height of financial lunacy. It'll just cost so much money and it's not at all clear that it will solve any of the problems," Nenshi said.