Town hall discusses RCMP pitch for more officers

Politicians, police and citizens gathered at a town hall meeting in late January to discuss the need for increased RCMP resources to address concerns around traffic, speeding, and population growth in Halifax Regional Municipality.

Halifax’s RCMP detachment has requested new community policing offices in the
areas of Fall River and Beechville, with six officers assigned to each. 

Additionally, there will be one regular member traffic position for Musquodoboit Harbour and one regular member community policing officer for Sheet Harbour. The cost per officer is $202,671 for the fiscal year 2024-25, with a total annual cost of about $3 million for the additional officers.

The RCMP report making the case for the additional resources said more officers are needed because of growth in population growth and increased traffic.

Population growth in both districts is projected at between 23 per cent in Beechville and 31 per cent in Fall River by 2033.

Liberal MP Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal MLA Iain Rankin and HRM Coun. Janet Steele met with
residents at Trinity United Church Jan. 30 to discuss this projection and issues the community is facing.

“I know that residents would like to see more monitoring of traffic right across the district, so if this supports that, they would be pleased with it,” said Steele in an interview.

Nearby detachments are currently answering service calls for these communities.
Fall River Coun. Cathy Deagle-Gammon said this means that responses to calls take too long.

“The amount of speeding that’s happening, and by the time you get the RCMP, depending on
where they’re at, the response time is rather challenging, because they are coming from a separate detachment,” Deagle-Gammon said. “So, it’s really about a better distribution of
resources.”

A community policing office differs from a traditional RCMP station in that it is typically located within shared community spaces rather than a standalone facility. These offices are equipped with fewer resources and technologies but are meant to collaborate with the community they serve.

“If this gets approved, we’ll have a nice community presence,” Deagle-Gammon said. “They can be proactive. Then officers will have much more of an ability to be present in the schools, you know, do really nice education stuff, meet with seniors, and have that presence the way that we need it.”

The recommendation report also cited Beechville as “a Historically Black Nova Scotian settlement” and the need for continued building of relationships within the community after discriminatory actions with the RCMP were addressed.

Last September, Assistant Commissioner Dennis Daley, the RCMP’s commanding officer in Nova Scotia, issued a formal apology to African Nova Scotians and to all people of African descent for the historic use of street checks and other negative interactions.

“The commanding officer actually held 13 consultations across the province in communities that have a rich history in African Nova Scotian aspects and Beechville was one of those consultations,” said RCMP Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay in an interview.

“During that specific consultation, the community mentioned that they want a greater police presence in the actual community itself.”

The RCMP request will be part of HRM’s budget deliberations which are now underway and will be finalized in April.