Richmond wants your opinion as it considers ditching the RCMP

News 1130

The City of Richmond kicks off a series of open houses tonight as it looks into the idea of forming its own police department.

Mayor Malcolm Brodie say people would have to get on board in pretty big numbers for the idea to really gain traction and he adds the five open houses this month should help determine that level of support.

“What I would want to see from the people, before I would want to make a move to an independent police force, would be that there’s a very good level of public support, notwithstanding the very considerable costs that are involved in making a transition.”

Brodie says the city has carefully looked at the idea, but it’s hard to put an exact price tag on it, but he does have a rough estimate.

“There would be one-time costs of about $19.6 million which would have to be paid over a period of three years. In addition to that, there would be a $2.4 million bump to the operating budget and that’s to get the same level of service. So it’s a very costly item.” …

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