A public survey that was a part of a policing delivery model study presented to Airdrie City council Dec. 21, 2020 claimed 46 per cent of respondents were in favour of paying more for police services, if it meant having more input and influence.
The survey, according to a presentation to council made by representatives of MNP, included 37 in-person interviews with internal and external stakeholders, an online public survey that garnered 798 responses, a town hall session, interviews with eight community stakeholders and an RCMP satisfaction survey. The survey also showed 17 per cent of respondents would not be willing to have an increase.
“We always try and take the anecdotal things that people say and line it up with what the data says,” said Chad Lins, who presented on behalf of MNP. “Sometimes those things match up, sometimes they don’t.”
According to the recommendations resulting from the policing delivery model study, the order of magnitude cost increase between the current state of policing and the municipal hybrid model is estimated to be about $42 per capita.
Lins said the proposed hybrid model that was covered in the presentation would have the same service-related characteristics as the municipal model. The one exception would be it attempts to mitigate high-risk, low-frequency events by contracting to resources that specialize in certain areas. Like the current municipal model, he said the hybrid model incorporates municipal enforcement officers into the police response model, in addition to RCMP officers.
“The hybrid municipal model has merits because it provides the governance mechanism that Airdrie is looking for while mitigating costs by outsourcing serious yet infrequent occurrences to Calgary (or another service provider),” the presentation stated. “It is of note that these municipal police services have been designed to be lean. The full-service model has been estimated at approximately $286 per capita and the hybrid model at $261 – lower than most municipal police service costs that typically range from $300 [to] $400 per capita.”
Recommendations from the presentation stated if council has any interest in switching to the hybrid model, beginning to set aside reserve funds would make the transition easier. The report indicated the City of Airdrie would have to set aside $1.25 million annually to reach the $5 million needed for the transition fund.
“Currently, the public seems to be happy with the services, but there are certainly things that can be worked on,” Lins said. “There is no raging tire fire that needs to be put out at this junction.”
Coun. Candice Kolson questioned why Surrey B.C. was brought up during the survey, as its population is considerably larger than Airdrie’s. Lins replied Surrey has been used in the survey as that municipality is currently in the process of transitioning police models.
“Some of the other cities have been used for quite some time, so there wasn’t much to take from them,” he said. “When we look to talk about where there are cities, we can learn some things from about a transition, Surrey was top of mind in that regard.”
Kolson said one thing she wants the public to pay attention to in regard to Airdrie’s current police service would be that the city’s Crime Severity Index continues to drop.
“Our RCMP is doing really great work in Airdrie,” she said. “Of course, there is always going to be frustrations when you have two different organizations working together, but that was a good news story that was glossed over a little bit.”
Mayor Peter Brown wanted to clarify the report doesn't mean the City is changing the way policing is done in Airdrie.
"This was to make sure that we are doing all of the right things with policing in our community," he said. "The RCMP are very aware of this and have received a copy of the report. These are specifically options for future council and councillors to make a decision on much later."
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
