The City of North Vancouver has a clear message for Ottawa where it comes to rising police costs: If youre going to make the problem worse, at least pay for it.
The city aired the grievance earlier this week as Berry Vrbanovic, the president of the Federal of Canadian Municipalities, was touring the Lower Mainland to kick off a cross-country consultation on policing issues.
Policing is a significant portion of our budget, said city Mayor Darrell Mussatto in an interview with the North Shore News. We want to make sure our voices are heard.
The rising cost of law enforcement much of it paid by local governments is a key concern for municipalities, said Vrbanovic, especially in light of federal government crime legislation will likely swell the price further.
Over the past decade, the costs of policing have doubled from $6.4 billion to over $12 billion nationally, said Vrbanovic, who met with West Vancouver Police Chief Peter Lepine as part of his stop in the Lower Mainland. Two out of three police salaries in Canada are being paid by municipal governments, he said.
Vrbanovic said that isnt sustainable. He said while parliament debates crime legislation, federal politicians also need to consider who will pay to enforce those laws.
Mussatto said federal decisions on issues ranging from the war on drugs to fighting organized crime have huge cost implications for local government. They set the rules and they expect us to pay for it, he said.
In the city and district of North Vancouver, RCMP costs are over $18 million annually and rising.
The citys draft budget this year includes an additional $343,800 for the RCMP contract. That covers increases in fuel costs, a request for two new civilian positions and $75,000 towards integrated Lower Mainland teams.
Theyre busy building more jails, said Mussatto of the federal governments anti-crime policies. We get stuck with having to enforce those regulations. We just dont have the resources to do that.
Mussatto said he has taken the same position as the four former attorneys general of B.C. who called on the federal government in a letter this week to decriminalize marijuana. The four said continued marijuana prohibition has led to profits for organized crime and gang violence.
Is this a war that we should be fighting? said Mussatto of the so-called war on drugs.
Is this that much of a problem?
Mussatto said if Ottawa wants to keep setting a crime-fighting agenda, they should start paying for more of it.
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