Group calling for defunding police seeks role with board overseeing Codiac RCMP

A group that's called for defunding police and halting a new police station in Moncton wants a more direct role in the civilian group that oversees the Codiac Regional RCMP.

Hafsah Mohammad with Grassroots NB outlined the request at the Codiac Regional Policing Authority board meeting Thursday.Mohammad said the group wants a role similar to that of El Jones in Halifax.

Jones has been given approval by the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners to plan a committee that will define defunding the police in that city.

"We would like to offer a voice in the same way," Mohammad said during the online meeting.

Charles Lger, chair of the board and a Moncton councillor, said it's an idea worth considering.

"I certainly, based on what I'm seeing in terms of community engagement and making sure that people's concerns are heard, think it's a good approach," Lger said during the meeting.

Lger said the concept will be discussed at a future subcommittee meeting.

The policing authority oversees Codiac RCMP, which polices Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.

Mohammad has said they should cut police spending to other things in the community.

It's 2021 budget is $34.6 million for 147 officers.

"The Codiac Regional Police get tens of millions of dollars to provide a service for a small fraction of the total population of 145,000 people," Mohammad said.

"So if not for the sake of having a healthy and safe community for all people, can we consider re-imagining the approach to crime prevention for austerity's sake?"

Call to halt new building

Mohammad and Charles MacDougall have recently appeared at Moncton council calling for the city to halt plans to build a new RCMP station in the city.

The city's 2021 budget forecasts spending $46 million on the station, though that figure is expected to be updated once design work is complete in January.

James Graves, who sits on a policing authority committee planning the station, told the board Thursday that design work is about 90 per cent complete.

The updated figure in January will include changes to materials costs related to COVID-19, which has made some building materials like lumber more expensive.

A construction is expected to be issued early next year with a decision on awarding the contract in the spring.

Planning for the new station has been underway for years, though its cost estimate has repeatedly risen as its completion timeline has been pushed back.

The latest timeline suggests it will be open in early spring 2023.

The city purchased land for the station along Albert Street for $2.45 million in 2019. That land was cleared and remediated this year.

The existing station on Main Street opened in 1980 and was headquarters of the smaller Moncton municipal police force before RCMP took over in the 1990s.

Leger has previously described the old building as "cramped" and no longer meeting RCMP design standards.

The new station is expected to be designed to accommodate growth in the police force as the region's population increases and to move the dispatch centre, now in a Dieppe fire hall, into the building.