Regional policing in rural Sask. likely will come down to dollars: Weyburn police chief

Whether or not police forces in Saskatchewan choose to regionalize will likely come down to dollars, according to Weyburn's top cop and head of the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police.

"They would have to see value for their dollars," Marlo Pritchard said, explaining cost-sharing agreements would need to be inked and more resourcesmight have to be added,

This week's throne speech included a plan from the provincial government to amend legislation to allow communities with populations of under 500 people tojoin regional police services.

Specific details of the planned changeshave yet to be released. A government spokesperson said the legislation is being drafted and would be tabled this session.

According to the current rules, two communities with populations of more than 500 people can regionalizeand include a smaller RM. The government spokesperson saying the proposed change would "bring greater clarity to the issue" and offer more information on the topic.

Regional police more common in Eastern Canada

Pritchard saidregionalizationof policing is more common in Eastern Canada and is similiar to the existence of community safety officers in some rural communities.

"Do I think it would allow for more flexibility and the possibility of some smaller communities having policing? I think it's a possibility," John Garnet, chief of police for the R.M of Corman Park, which has six officers focused on enforcing provincial statues while the RCMPhandles criminal matters.

"Sometimes bigger is better, sometimes smaller is better."

Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) President Ray Orb said he is interested in the concept of regional policing, whether it's two RMS combining forces or an RM and urban service.

Orb said cost could be a concern, "but maybe they only need an officer for part of a day, maybe for two or three hours."

He wants for the government to do consultations before any legislation is tabled and still wants to see RMs policed by RCMP.

"It would be something that benefits the entire province, so I would hope that the province would be willing to put some kind of funding into this endeavour."

No commitment to funds from province

Premier Scott Moe would not commit Wednesday to funding the effort, but said, "we'll commit to the conversation with the police forces and continuing to keep all of the conversations and relative solutions on the table."

NDPjustice critic NicoleSarauersaid earlier this week she needs to see more details behind the proposed change.

"Downloading on larger police forces is something we've already seen this government do. The Provincial Response Team has a piece to it that has downloaded more responsibility onto our larger urban centre police forces, Saskatoon and Regina in particular," Sarauersaid.

"These police forces across the province are already working very hard with the limited resources that they have, so if there isn't any dollars tied to this announcement, that's going to be a concern for a lot of these communities."