JUSTICE Minister Shirley Bond extended the deadline for municipalities to sign on to the new provincial contract with the RCMP for the second time in as many months on Tuesday afternoon.
Tuesday evening, despite the new June 30 "hard" deadline, the District of North Vancouver was still lamenting escalating police costs and an absence of municipal control at a council workshop on police costs.
The 20-year RCMP contract expired this year, but several municipalities, including the District and City of North Vancouver, have not yet renewed the deal.
Policing costs in North Vancouver might rise by approximately 50 per cent under the new contract, according to the district's chief administrative officer David Stuart.
"The contract cost will increase from $9.7 million in 2011 to $14.6 million in 2014," Stuart said.
That figure does not include the depreciation of the police building, the costs of operating it, the salaries of civilian staff that work for the RCMP, or administrative overhead provided by the district, according to Stuart.
The district's 2012 budget for policing services is approximately $16.1 million.
"There's no improvement in compensation containment," Stuart said.
"It's actually gotten worse," agreed Mayor Richard Walton, noting the contract's tendency to download costs on municipalities.
"My colleagues in Burnaby and Richmond will go to the wall," Walton said, referring to the solidarity among municipalities that have not signed the contract.
Walton has previously expressed concern over leaving future councils to face spiralling policing costs.
Speaking to Bill Good on CKNW Thursday, Walton also suggested the RCMP has to make changes to curb incidents of infractions by police officers.
"If there's major cultural issues, and we know there are within the RCMP that have to be changed, they have to be changed from the top down," he said.
Stuart said the district's options may be limited.
The provincial government would not support an independent police detachment in North Vancouver like the one in West Vancouver, according to Stuart.
Establishing an alternative police force to serve the district would likely take two years, according to Walton.
Several municipalities have not signed the contract because of the expectation of increased labour costs, said Coun. Mike Little.
"You can probably anticipate seeing unionization in the RCMP," Little said.
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently ruled in favour of the federal government, declaring that the rights of RCMP officers are not violated by rules banning a union.
The case may still end up in Supreme Court.
The possible price tag of $1.2 billion for a new Independent Investigations Office in Surrey was also a point of concern.
"Why are we paying for that?" Little asked.
The provincial and federal governments have not yet worked out how that office will be subsidized, according to Stuart.
Signing the contract at this stage would be a disservice to the electorate, according to Coun. Roger Bassam.
"You could never sign this and look somebody in the eye and say, 'I'm watching your back,'" Bassam said.
Equating the impasse with managing a corporation, Bassam said a CEO who signed a similar contract would be immediately sued by his shareholders.
Council also discussed whether North Vancouver receives police service commensurate with money spent.
"On the North Shore we pay about $2 million for the integrated teams every year but we have no say to where they go," Stuart said.
Many contractual costs are greater than first anticipated, according to Stuart, who discussed the possibility of the RCMP purchasing four new carbines this year.
"The cost of the gun originally was $1,500," he said. When the cost of ammunition and training are included, the cost of each semi-automatic rifle rises to $9,500, according to Stuart.
"It is absolutely a stinking agreement and to have a gun to your head that you have to sign it is immoral," said Coun. Alan Nixon.
Both Nixon and Bassam said the District of North Vancouver had been well-served by its detachment. "We're supporters of the people who are in our detachment," said Nixon.
The district has a unit of 91 officers, but due to absences and temporary transfers to other units, the municipality is regularly served by 75 officers.
The district has the lowest crime rate in British Columbia among municipalities with a population greater than 15,000 who are served by the RCMP.
Stuart proposed meeting with the City of North Vancouver to consider options.
The District of North Vancouver has a population of approximately 88,370, relative to 50,725 in the City of North Vancouver. Based on statistics from 2010, criminal offences were split evenly between the district and city, with 51.6 per cent of criminal offences created by district residents and 48.4 per cent of the offences by city residents.
