The province is overhauling how municipalities pay for police services, but they will not say if it will cost them more or less.
A new report from a consulting company says Nova Scotia should work toward a single provincial police force, along with several other recommendations, which outline how to make police in the province more equitable, to make sure all areas have the same quality of service, and to better integrate officers in the community.
In response to the report, the government is expanding the RCMP.
There are 10 municipalities in the province who have their own police force, and they will have the chance to choose to either keep it or to switch to the RCMP.
The government would not say if sticking with the municipal police would raise the cost of contacting specialized RCMP services, like dive teams, for example, which many local police forces do not have. It’s possible that municipalities will be able to meet provincial policing standards on their own, she says.
Justice Minister Becky Druhan says they will work with municipalities to see what path works best for them.
“We really need a system that responds not only to individual, daily local needs, but that can also shift very responsibly when it needs to address bigger incidents. And so that’s really what we’re working towards,” says Druhan.
Druhan says any timeline for the changes or any associated cost would be revealed once the province has met with municipalities to determine what changes they need to improve public safety.
In total, the report identified six areas for major improvement. It surveyed more than 7,000 people, who described how law enforcement could be improved.
Based on those recommendations, the province wants to create a layered police force, which means they want officers to focus on policing, while other positions, like Safety Officers or Special Constables would handle public safety-related matters.
They also want to revamp the province’s policing boards. The report explains that the board system is fragmented and a new system would make it more effective, along with integrating more of a community-focused perspective to emphasize public safety and not just law enforcement.
More changes are coming to policing standards as well. The province introduced several in September, and in response to the report, they will add more. The government would not reveal specifics yet. However, they say it will involve “training requirements for all officers in cultural sensitivity, community-specific information, and the experiences of vulnerable populations,’ according to a government document.
“There are many elements of this change that will be taking place, and they will take place over the coming months and years,” says Druhan.
