Next Steps for Advocacy on a Provincial Police Service

Thanks again to everyone who attended the President’s Summit on Policing in February!  If you missed the session on a provincial police service, you can view the recording here and access the PowerPoint presentations here.

At the end of the February 17 session, we surveyed attendees about their thoughts on an independent provincial police service. The survey results indicate a high level of support for retaining the RCMP as Alberta’s provincial police service. Although attendees indicated that they favour improvements to RCMP governance and service levels, the majority disagreed that an independent provincial police service would better meet their communities’ needs than the current policing model with respect to service levels, local governance and oversight, and operating costs.

At this time, AUMA is choosing to hold off on announcing a policy position related to an independent provincial police service. As mentioned at the Summit, the PricewaterhouseCoopers feasibility study on this topic is expected to be complete by April 30, 2021 and the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General has committed to sharing this report publicly. Once the report is available, AUMA will engage its members in developing a draft policy position and advocacy campaign, if needed. If you have any questions about AUMA’s advocacy on policing, please contact Kelly Santarossa, Senior Policy Analyst, at 780.409.4315 or ksantarossa [at] auma.ca (ksantarossa[at]auma[dot]ca).