RCMP Support Document - Request for New Volunteer Vehicle

REQUEST FOR A NEW VOLUNTEER VEHICLE FOR COMMUNITY POLICING

West Shore RCMP Community Policing/Victim Services (CPVS) Section has numerous community based programs actively in place. We rely on volunteers in the community to ensure these programs run smoothly, consistently and efficiently. As many of these programs are volunteer led with support from Detachment officers, we rely on funding from our Municipalities to address costs associated to these programs.

West Shore RCMP CPVS offers the following programs; Speed Watch, Keep In Touch (KIT), Block Watch, Auxiliary Constable Program, Bike Patrol, School Liaison Programs and Restorative Justice. We currently have 90 volunteers attached to West Shore RCMP CPVS section. These volunteers have committed well over 6500 hours in 2012 alone. Our volunteers are the back bone of many of these programs and require safe and reliable equipment to conduct their daily duties.

West Shore RCMP CPVS currently has 2 mini vans for use. These were donated for use many years ago. The vans are a 1998 Pontiac and a 1998 GMC both with a total of over 185,000 km’s. Due to the current condition of the vans (exterior/interior) and increased service costs related to the age of the vehicles, the vans are in need of replacing. Although we have an unmarked police van attached to the West Shore RCMP CPVS, it can only be driven by Volunteer Auxiliary Constables (as they are trained to operate a police vehicle on certain occasions). As the volunteer vans are multi use vehicles and not government owned, they can be operated by our volunteer contingent.

West Shore RCMP Community Policing Section recently submitted an application to seek a $10,00.00 grant from the Civil Forfeiture -- Community Policing Grant Application Process. It is hoped that we are successful in receiving a grant, which will help address the costs of replacing these vans. We will learn in March 2013 whether we are successful recipients of these funds. We have also been able to save $10,000.00 through our recent budgeting process with our CPVS budget. We have earmarked these funds for the future replacement of these vehicles and our hope is to replace at least one of the vans in the 2013 year.

West Shore RCMP CPVS strives to maintain a high level of community programming, there is significant public need. The West Shore area has the largest growth in British Columbia and our goal is to continue to provide ongoing education and prevention programming that helps to reduce crime and increase feelings of safety in our community. We implement this programming through community participation and by partnering and assisting other agencies who also serve our community. In order to continue to meet our goals and expectations, we require a reliable and safe vehicle for the volunteers to use.

Over the next fiscal year we will continue to work towards the replacement of at least one of these vans. The current cost to replace a mini-van is approximately $20,000. We require a mini-van as we regularly transport equipment to and from various community events throughout our policing jurisdiction. Along with equipment, we also take groups of volunteers to training opportunities throughout British Columbia and to community events locally.

The cost expenditure looks as follows;

The current funds sought looks as follows;

This letter is to ensure that our Municipal partners are aware of our current transportation need and that our goal is to have both these vehicles replaced by fiscal year end 2015. The West Shore RCMP CPVS section may seek in the future, further funds through the municipal grant process to assist us with our goal.

Yours Truly,

Kevin Violot Officer in Charge