Letter from Suzanne Anton, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, re: policing issues

AUG 6 - 2015

His Worship David Screech Mayor of the Town of View Royal 45 View Royal Avenue Victoria BC V9B 1A6

Dear Mayor Screech:

Thank you for your May 19, 2015 correspondence, as well as the opportunity to meet with you to discuss policing issues in the West Shore communities.

I appreciate that the disbanding of the Regional Crime Unit has had an impact on policing in the West Shore. I am a strong believer that integrated policing models support the effective delivery of specialized and resource intensive policing services and may provide for greater efficiency and better service delivery on a regional basis. The provincial government remains a strong supporter of integrated teams and the regional provision of municipal policing services. Effective March 3, 2015, amendments to Section 4 of the Police Act came into force, and may provide further opportunities for new service delivery models and an improved governance structure for existing integrated services.

You may be interested to know that some of your regional colleagues, the Mayors of Victoria, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich, and Central Saanich, recently met with Mr. Clayton Pecknold, Assistant Deputy Minister and Director of Police Services, to discuss integrated police teams in the CRD. I believe there is an opportunity here and I encourage you to also work with your colleagues on this matter.

With respect to the provincial strength of the West Shore RCMP Detachment, the West Shore Provincial Unit has an established strength of six (6) members, which includes five (5) General Duty/General Investigative Services positions and one (1) Police Dog Services position. The West Shore Provincial Unit is responsible for policing the District of Metchosin, the District of Highlands, Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations reserve lands, and all unincorporated areas adjacent to Metchosin. In addition, the members of the West Shore RCMP Detachment are complemented by one (1) First Nations enhanced policing member.

His Worship David Screech Page 2

For integrated detachments such as the West Shore RCMP Detachment, multiple police units work out of the same building and operate as a single police force providing police services to the combined municipal and provincial jurisdictions. Police resources for each portion of an integrated detachment, municipal and provincial, must be determined appropriately and based on several factors, most importantly workload and service share of the jurisdiction(s). The RCMP continually monitors police, crime and workload data to identify and address policing needs, and to ensure resources are in-line with service share. Ministry staff will follow-up and discuss your concern with the RCMP.

I appreciate opportunities to hear the views of local governments and share information. Thank you again for a very informative meeting.

Yours very truly,

Suzanne Anton QC Attorney General Minister of Justice