Should we go the regional route when it comes to policing, I fear the motto here in Delta will have to be revised from "no call too small" to "no cheque too big."
One of the recommendations that came out of Wally Oppal's missing women's inquiry was the creation of a regional police force. The idea obviously has some merit, particularly when dealing with lowlifes like Willy Pickton that cross municipal boundaries while carrying out their horrific crimes.
However, for the day-to-day policing of one of Greater Vancouver's safest communities, a regional approach looks like it could become a money pit complete with reduced services.
If you were in charge of a regional police force, you would allocate resources to where they're needed most and to where an economy of scale makes the most sense. In other words, not in Delta.
On a Macleans list of Canada's most dangerous cities for 2011, you'll find a dozen Lower Mainland jurisdictions listed ahead of Delta, which stood in 66th spot. It only makes sense that a regional force would put a greater focus on places like Surrey (10th), New Westminster (15th) or Vancouver (18th) than those such as Delta or West Vancouver (81st).
We'd all pay for the regional force, likely on some sort of per capita basis, but it's hard to believe we'd get our money's worth given the demands that would be placed on it in other parts of Greater Vancouver. It would be a bit like TransLink and the current situation in the Lower Mainland: We all pay our share, but the train only stops in so many places.
You only have to read the Crime Beat that's published weekly in this newspaper to realize Delta police officers respond to all manner of calls, some of which I suspect other departments might consider frivolous. I can almost guarantee a regional force would deploy its resources to what would be deemed more pressing matters, putting Delta police's "no call too small" motto in the archives in the process.
As Chief Jim Cessford has suggested, creating regional units to deal with specific types of crimes like gang violence, ones that cross boundaries and require a co-ordinated approach, would make a lot of sense, provided they could be managed effectively. But I don't think there's any question that smaller (or safer) communities will lose out if all aspects of policing in Greater Vancouver are centralized.
It doesn't take a crystal ball to see we'd end up paying for services we don't receive.
