The City of Richmond gets more bang for its buck by keeping the RCMP compared with other policing services it might be considering, says a report by the force.
Insp. Ted De Jager said the report, which was prepared by E Division, B.C.'s RCMP headquarters, was in response to Richmond studying other options in a bid to save money.
"As a measure of efficiency, Richmond detachment currently deploys fewer officers per 100,000 citizens than independent municipal police forces, averaging 14 per cent below the RCMP average and 30 per cent below the independent municipal groups," the report says.
De Jager said Thursday the Mounties have served the city for more than 50 years and currently have 229 members, 18 of whom report to integrated teams.
He said the cost per member is about $146,000, and added that figures contained in other reports being considered by Richmond are incorrect because they are based on costs billed to the city for all the officers.
Municipalities such as Richmond, which have a population of more than 100,000, pay 90 per cent of policing costs and the federal government pays the rest, De Jager said.
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said the city's safety committee met Wednesday to discuss alternative policing models because it currently has no say in how many officers are on the integrated teams, for example.
Brodie said that while the RCMP is doing a good job, he has worrisome questions about how the $1-billion cost of the force's new headquarters in Surrey will be paid for.
