Proposal for Municipal Bylaws – RCMP Disclosure Fee Schedule

West Shore RCMP Detachment

Proposal for Municipal Bylaws – RCMP Disclosure Fee Schedule

Summary:

West Shore RCMP Detachment routinely receives disclosure requests, information inquiries and Court Orders from various inquiring agencies and individuals. These requests are managed by our Disclosure Clerk(s) who review, research and respond to the requests appropriately and within the Detachment’s legislated authority and duty. The monitoring and billing for such requests is a commonly practiced and accepted method of managing disclosure and generating funds for the Municipality. Policing agencies in other jurisdictions, both Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Municipal, have established Bylaws in order to charge financially for the preparation and release of information that constitutes part of a record or records. Currently, there are no such Municipal Bylaws with the City of Langford, the City of Colwood or the Town of View Royal that permit for the charge for release of RCMP information or disclosure from our records. It is requested that Bylaws be implemented that would authorize for a fee schedule to be created and requesters of information be billed for the completion of the inquiries.

Background:

West Shore Detachment receives Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests, routine disclosure and information requests, and Court Orders from various agencies, organizations, private companies/businesses and individual civilians (Appendix A). These requests arrive on a daily basis and each individual request must be reviewed by an individual who possesses extensive knowledge of disclosure procedures; applicable legislations, statutes, and policies; and any amendments or agreements to those regulations (Appendix B). This Disclosure Clerk must also understand the language each request utilizes; the timeframe that the request must be completed within; the type or amount of information/details the requestor is entitled to; and whether or not the information should be released even when the authority to release exists. The integration of the investigation, civilian’s rights to privacy and information as well as public safety must all be considered when releasing RCMP held information. The quality assurance of such releases holds the Detachment potentially libel for any mistake, misinterpretation or misinformation.

Once the request itself has been reviewed and the amount/type of information to be released has been determined, the Disclosure clerk then performs a full review of the file or information in question and any related files and/or documents. The appropriate information is vetted and prepared for released. Each request varies in the amount of time required to complete. The information can be in digital and/or hard copy format; include CD/DVD’s, photographs, specialized reports, emails, notes; and have information spread across various software and computer programs. Some requests may take minutes to complete while others may span days.

West Shore Detachment does not possess the authority to charge nor collect any monetary fees for performing the above release of information in the absence of Bylaws.

Consideration:

The number of disclosure requests West Shore receives is consistency increasing and in addition to the full time Disclosure Clerk, the workload has grown to where it must now be shared with another municipal employee. Given the measure of responsibility and the extensive knowledge required to release information, the Disclosure position(s) is considered by many policing agencies a specialized position that warrants those that utilize the service to be charged a fee. The implementation of a fee schedule would be a substantial generator of income for the Municipalities. These funds may be utilized to offset the cost of additional municipal employees required to manage the growing administrative tasks of the West Shore Detachment; the release of information being one of those growing jobs. It would furthermore align West Shore Detachment with other police detachments and agencies who receive funds for disclosure services as per their respective Municipal Bylaws (Appendix C).

The right to set a fee schedule and bill accordingly is set out in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

WHEREAS Section 75 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, grants authority to require an applicant who makes a request under Section 5 to pay to the public body fees for the following services: (a) locating, retrieving and producing the record; (b) preparing the record for disclosure; (c) shipping and handling the record; (d) providing a copy of the record.

WHEREAS Section 77 (a) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, requires a local government to pass a bylaw or other instrument by which the local public body acts, must designate a person or group of persons as the head of the local public body for the purposes of this Act, and (c) may set fees the local public body requires to be paid under section 75.

Should the proposed Bylaws be passed, the training and/or costs to the Detachment would be minimal. Similar to the collection and distribution of the Police Information Checks and Civil Fingerprinting Fees, fees could be processed through our Detachment cash register. The monitoring and requesting of fees would involve a procedure as discussed and agreed upon by the Municipal Manager/Supervisor and Disclosure clerk(s). The revenue would be tracked and disseminated by the Financial Administrator. An upgrade or adjustment to the cash register system currently in place would be required. This upgrade is perceived to be the only financial cost to the Detachment.

Proposal:

Given the amount of knowledge and responsibility required to release information; the existence of similar Bylaws for other Municipalities; the legislated authority to collect fees for such services; the potential for revenue; and finally the minimal training and cost to implement such a practice at the Detachment, it is requested that a schedule of fees be established. West Shore Detachment proposes that the City of Langford, the City of Colwood and the Town of View Royal consider the implementation of Bylaws that would charge a fee for the use of the West Shore RCMP’s disclosure services.

It is further recommended that in the effort of consistency and convenience the same fee schedule be adopted by all Municipalities. A draft copy of a proposed fee structure for West Shore Detachment has also been included (Appendix D). The fees included in the proposed structure have been chosen though consideration and comparison of other and neighbouring policing agencies. An additional comparison document has been created to demonstrate how West Shore’s requested fees liken to other established fee structures (Appendix E).