The idea of this report was to assist in making a determination whether to continue to maintain police services from the local police departments or to use the services or the RCMP. There are tradeoffs that can’t be measured by a study without being specific in it’s purpose. There are benefits have the police live in the community they patrol. Having a police force committed solely to the community that it patrols. Then there are the community networking and knowledge of the community that is important. Intimate knowledge of the local crime issues and the local criminals, which the RCMP officers probably would be less aware about. Lastly there is a tendency to for the RCMP to deploy minimal resources and to draw resources from neighboring areas when needed even for routine matters. This will decrease police sevices overall.

Executive Summary

The focus of the Study is to determine the requirements for a modern public safety police service and to compare and contrast the delivery of policing services by either the current Codiac Regional Police – a contracted RCMP model, or a regional municipal police force, or a
combination of RCMP and municipal services.

The methodology included:

• an analysis and measurement of the Codiac policing workload
• comparisons with other Canadian police agencies
• research of policing initiatives and approaches across Canada, the US, and the UK
• interviews with Tri-Community elected officials and administrative staff, and with senior Codiac Regional Police officers and RCMP ‘J’ Division
• interviews with the New Brunswick Department of Justice and Public Safety Canada staff
• a Space Analysis of existing and future facility needs
• a site visit by eight members of the Study team
• a literature review of the public safety issues under study
• a review of the Final Report of the Mass Casualty Commission

The Study identified significant costs, challenges, and risk in considering a move to create a
regional municipal police force, and a combined model is not considered feasible. A transition
plan to a regional municipal police force would require – most importantly – a long-term
agreement and commitment by all stakeholders: the community, councils, the Department of
Justice, and Public Safety Canada to move ahead with a change in service provider.

A .pdf of the report can be downloaded HERE