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Transition to Municipal Police Force

Welcome to the unique, expensive, made in BC, shit show ...

Les Leyne: Surrey policing debacle will cost us all​


If the NDP government’s attempt to chart a route out of this bungle by enticing the city to go with a municipal force goes as planned, provincial taxpayers will cover some ongoing costs.


Officials stressed at a briefing Friday that the City of Surrey’s policing debacle — where it tried to replace the RCMP with a municipal force, then flip-flopped midway through and is now trying to revert back to the RCMP — was unprecedented.

It’s also historic in the sense that no local government has ever screwed up the provision of an essential service so badly that it now has province-wide implications no matter what happens next.

(That sobbing you hear in the background is from people who despair about how disjointed and unbalanced Greater Victoria policing is. Advocates for a regional force now realize that Surrey has probably poisoned the idea of making any policing changes for a generation or more.)


B.C. taxpayers are on the hook one way or the other no matter what happens, now that the province has weighed in with a concept that Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke started trashing two hours after it was launched.

If the NDP government’s attempt to chart a route out of this bungle by enticing the city to go with a municipal force goes as planned, provincial taxpayers will cover some ongoing costs.

That’s despite repeated promises from Farnworth that would not happen. If Surrey rejects the option and opts for the RCMP, no provincial help is available, short-staffed detachments across B.C. could be cannibalized and communities will suffer.

It’s amazing that Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth couched the provincial solutions as “recommendations.” It means the city council still has discretion to continue blundering on. The only firm directive Friday was that provincial watchdogs are entering the fray as overseers.

Four years ago, Surrey committed to disengaging from the RCMP and creating its own police force. The process was underway when a new council was elected last fall and opted to revert back to the RCMP. (It’s ludicrously called the “transition reversal.”)

Farnworth is now urging the city to flip-flop the flip-flop and carry on with the municipal force. It would cost about $30 million a year more, but the NDP is now willing to pick up the tab.

It’s a completely undeserved annual grant that will create a long line of mayors demanding the same treatment. Why we have to pay them to clean up their own mess relates to the number of Surrey seats held by the NDP (7).

The concept of a “point of no return” weighed heavily during the Site C hydroelectric dam argument, when the NDP gained power and concluded they had to continue the mega-project, even though they opposed it.

The Surrey Police Service looks to be at the same point.

The blame for the mess doesn’t rest entirely with Surrey.

Farnworth cautiously approved Surrey’s original plan to create a municipal force in 2019. After the die was cast, the government said “all parties involved acknowledge the complex scale of a transition this size and are committed to co-operation and collaboration.”

So much for that.

On Friday, his ministry enraged Locke by releasing a heavily blacked-out 500-page report that shreds her city’s approach and cites numerous downsides in the rest of B.C. Not only that, officials didn’t give it to her until she asked for it.

Farnworth said there are 1,500 B.C. vacancies in the RCMP right now. “We cannot afford to make it worse.”

The director of police services report “makes it clear that backtracking to the RCMP risks reducing police presence in other regions.”
Farnworth said it was “critically important” that Surrey officials read it carefully. But Locke said it was a “half-baked” document and rejected the premise.

There was an apt analogy offered during a background briefing. Surrey is in the deep dark woods now. The sprawling municipality is policed by a mish-mash of officers from both forces, under RCMP leadership.

B.C. is offering a path out of the woods — revert back and carry on with the new force, with an ongoing helping hand from taxpayers. It has a few obstacles, but they can be managed.

The other path is to carry on with the course reversal and go back to using the RCMP. It’s got “cliffs, rivers and needs lots of bridges” to get through. And it could drag a lot of other communities into the argument.

Farnworth expressed hope “we can finally close this chapter of confusion and uncertainty.”

But it looks like an entire new sequel is in the works on those same themes.

 
Meanwhile, help wanted....


B.C. police forces struggle with recruitment and retention​

RCMP blames 'declining interest in policing'​


Some advocates and local municipalities worry the uncertainty around the police transition in Surrey could make it more difficult to fill vacancies within B.C.'s RCMP detachments.

According to the latest statistics, detachments in British Columbia are struggling to fill vacancies in 20 per cent of the force's full-time positions.

There are currently 518 officer positions vacant across the province — approximately seven per cent of the force's total 7,200 positions.

The remaining 1,000 vacancies are "soft vacancies" created when officers go on temporary leaves, such as medical leave due to an occupational injury, parental leave, or leave without pay.

According to the RCMP, the number of "soft vacancies" changes daily as people return to work.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, the RCMP attributed the vacancies to attrition, retirement, and lower-than-usual recruitment due to "a declining interest in policing."

Linda Duxbury, a professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, says part of the declining interest in the field is because of low job satisfaction.

She conducted interviews with hundreds of officers 15 years ago and says virtually all of them said they would not recommend joining the RCMP to their child.

"Since then, I've done big studies, one just a year and a half ago in the middle of COVID, on employee well-being, and no, things have not improved."


 
Meanwhile, help wanted....


B.C. police forces struggle with recruitment and retention​

RCMP blames 'declining interest in policing'​


Some advocates and local municipalities worry the uncertainty around the police transition in Surrey could make it more difficult to fill vacancies within B.C.'s RCMP detachments.

According to the latest statistics, detachments in British Columbia are struggling to fill vacancies in 20 per cent of the force's full-time positions.

There are currently 518 officer positions vacant across the province — approximately seven per cent of the force's total 7,200 positions.

The remaining 1,000 vacancies are "soft vacancies" created when officers go on temporary leaves, such as medical leave due to an occupational injury, parental leave, or leave without pay.

According to the RCMP, the number of "soft vacancies" changes daily as people return to work.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, the RCMP attributed the vacancies to attrition, retirement, and lower-than-usual recruitment due to "a declining interest in policing."

Linda Duxbury, a professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, says part of the declining interest in the field is because of low job satisfaction.

She conducted interviews with hundreds of officers 15 years ago and says virtually all of them said they would not recommend joining the RCMP to their child.

"Since then, I've done big studies, one just a year and a half ago in the middle of COVID, on employee well-being, and no, things have not improved."



One problem I see constantly repeated in the work place is mgmt not accounting for long term leave like mat/pat leave. Rarely is there ever a backfill for those, rather the org just goes short for the duration. This is a problem in every sector.
 
One problem I see constantly repeated in the work place is mgmt not accounting for long term leave like mat/pat leave. Rarely is there ever a backfill for those, rather the org just goes short for the duration. This is a problem in every sector.
So about ten years ago there was a move to adopt position sharing- there was a series of long term Mat leaves in E division that would come back to work- but not full time.

It was shot dead in the water. The idea that they should be allowed to share a position 50/50 etc

I’m not sure if it was ever revisited. I’ve certainly never seen it, the rcmp refuses to look after the family portion of the organization. Military pers are routinely shocked at the situations the rcmp thinks nothing of forcing on its members families. (They of course face their own unique hardships- not more or less- but different)

The rcmp will stay in its current nosedive for a long time to come. While the regular officers of the org continue to carry it as much as they can.

Procurement and treasury board decisions creating huge headaches for the commissioned officers to try and navigate.
 
So about ten years ago there was a move to adopt position sharing- there was a series of long term Mat leaves in E division that would come back to work- but not full time.

It was shot dead in the water. The idea that they should be allowed to share a position 50/50 etc

I’m not sure if it was ever revisited. I’ve certainly never seen it, the rcmp refuses to look after the family portion of the organization. Military pers are routinely shocked at the situations the rcmp thinks nothing of forcing on its members families. (They of course face their own unique hardships- not more or less- but different)

The rcmp will stay in its current nosedive for a long time to come. While the regular officers of the org continue to carry it as much as they can.

Procurement and treasury board decisions creating huge headaches for the commissioned officers to try and navigate.
ALL organizations struggle with change as I am sure you know. A humorous anecodote here.

When Canada was adopting the C7 rifle a bunch of CWOs were worried that the troops may not be able to properly perform drill movements with the new family of weapons. Yes the struggle was real....
 
Meanwhile, help wanted....


B.C. police forces struggle with recruitment and retention​

RCMP blames 'declining interest in policing'​


Some advocates and local municipalities worry the uncertainty around the police transition in Surrey could make it more difficult to fill vacancies within B.C.'s RCMP detachments.

According to the latest statistics, detachments in British Columbia are struggling to fill vacancies in 20 per cent of the force's full-time positions.

There are currently 518 officer positions vacant across the province — approximately seven per cent of the force's total 7,200 positions.

The remaining 1,000 vacancies are "soft vacancies" created when officers go on temporary leaves, such as medical leave due to an occupational injury, parental leave, or leave without pay.

According to the RCMP, the number of "soft vacancies" changes daily as people return to work.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, the RCMP attributed the vacancies to attrition, retirement, and lower-than-usual recruitment due to "a declining interest in policing."

Linda Duxbury, a professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, says part of the declining interest in the field is because of low job satisfaction.

She conducted interviews with hundreds of officers 15 years ago and says virtually all of them said they would not recommend joining the RCMP to their child.

"Since then, I've done big studies, one just a year and a half ago in the middle of COVID, on employee well-being, and no, things have not improved."


Police, CAF, Trades, Resource and manufacturing. All have recruiting problems. And not just here but though the Anglosphere and beyond.

And if you look at those jobs what is common dominator? Historically male. What are those employers looking for now? DEI. (to use the shorthand)

One there is less males now interested in those lines of work and the ones that are are not looked on as favorably.
BLM thing has harmed the police in the eyes of many younger kids. Couple that with everyone now wanting to be an "influencer" as the number one job. Gets you here.
 
Police, CAF, Trades, Resource and manufacturing. All have recruiting problems. And not just here but though the Anglosphere and beyond.

And if you look at those jobs what is common dominator? Historically male. What are those employers looking for now? DEI. (to use the shorthand)

One there is less males now interested in those lines of work and the ones that are are not looked on as favorably.
BLM thing has harmed the police in the eyes of many younger kids. Couple that with everyone now wanting to be an "influencer" as the number one job. Gets you here.

I think it’s a bit less nefarious than some BLM-led culture war. We’re simply seeing the inevitable impact of a demographic tend that was identified and predicted years ago- the retirement of the baby boom generation, coupled with fertility rates near historical low (and below replacement).


Canada needs more workers, either born and raised, or imported.
 
Add to that tens of thousands dead from COVID, plus tens of thousands more with long term health issues from COVID...
 
Add to that tens of thousands dead from COVID, plus tens of thousands more with long term health issues from COVID...
Though of those deaths, only a few thousand were likely in the workforce. Not to minimize the tragedy, but just looking at the number in context of this discussion.
 
police work is undesirable work for sure- probably at one of its lower values over the last 80 years. Combined with high hiring scrutiny. Why would anyone subject themselves to it 🤷‍♀️

People are often shocked when they enter the hiring process on a whim at the level of scrutiny. Having been told for years any high school bully can be a cop,

That said- a ton of members in north district BC are making well over 200 thousand dollars a year. There are bright spots
 
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I think it’s a bit less nefarious than some BLM-led culture war. We’re simply seeing the inevitable impact of a demographic tend that was identified and predicted years ago- the retirement of the baby boom generation, coupled with fertility rates near historical low (and below replacement).


Canada needs more workers, either born and raised, or imported.
I didn't mean BLM as a conspiracy. Just that said that whole thing painted police work with bad brush. I do feel it was unjustified but thats not issue here. Its the public preception, on especially in the minds of young people. That is all.

And yes all things said above.
 
So about ten years ago there was a move to adopt position sharing- there was a series of long term Mat leaves in E division that would come back to work- but not full time.

It was shot dead in the water. The idea that they should be allowed to share a position 50/50 etc

I’m not sure if it was ever revisited. I’ve certainly never seen it, the rcmp refuses to look after the family portion of the organization. Military pers are routinely shocked at the situations the rcmp thinks nothing of forcing on its members families. (They of course face their own unique hardships- not more or less- but different)

The rcmp will stay in its current nosedive for a long time to come. While the regular officers of the org continue to carry it as much as they can.

Procurement and treasury board decisions creating huge headaches for the commissioned officers to try and navigate.
One problem with hiring or staffing to account for 'soft vacancies' is you are asking the taxpayer, shareholder, customer or whoever is ultimately funding the particular organization to pay for what are essentially contingency positions, and fund their salary and benefits for the next xx years until pension. It is often complicated in any organization that has multiple worksites; do these 'contingency' positions become the modern day equivalent travelling salesmen? It is further complicated by specialization; a vacant canine handler or major crime investigator isn't as easily backfilled.

The Ontario government de-humanizes staffing to the point of calling each staff position a "full time equivalent". I'm sure they wouldn't really care care if the OPP had 5,000 cops making $100k OR 10,000 cops making $50K.

Back in the late 1980s, the OPP adapted a statistical deployment model from the Illinois State Police (which they developed in partnership with Northwestern University). It was imperfect, primarily because ISP is primarily a highway patrol so 'incidents' weren't properly weighted, but it was a start. The problem was the government never bought into it, so the best the model could do was tell senior staff how bad the staffing was on a formal basis.

Just around the time I left, I understood they were working on a new staffing/deployment model with the RCMP but I don't know where it went or where it stands, if anywhere. I suspect it met the same fate. With recruiting pressures, all a staffing model can do is quantify how understaffed you are.
 
We call that position a spellman. Its generally the lowest position on the totem pole and is a great position to start at because you get to learn how to do roughly every job in a department. It sucks for being on a erratic schedule (covering different peoples vacations, parental, etc.), but once they move up in seniority it becomes the next new guys position. It also gives them exposure to a lot of different jobs so later on the person can figure out exactly where they want their career to head.
 
Though of those deaths, only a few thousand were likely in the workforce. Not to minimize the tragedy, but just looking at the number in context of this discussion.
One of my volunteers lost her dad who was in Corrections to Covid, got by transporting a very sick prisoner in a car to the hospital.
 
We call that position a spellman. Its generally the lowest position on the totem pole and is a great position to start at because you get to learn how to do roughly every job in a department. It sucks for being on a erratic schedule (covering different peoples vacations, parental, etc.), but once they move up in seniority it becomes the next new guys position. It also gives them exposure to a lot of different jobs so later on the person can figure out exactly where they want their career to head.
Where the organization has a single work location (or , at least multiple that are geographically tightly packed) it can work better. It also depends on the type of job in terms of authority and qualifications; seniority is only part of the equation. A first-year apprentice electrician can't be expected to go off alone to do something they aren't qualified to do, nor can a young cop right out of college be expected to handle every call that comes over the air.

In a union shop there might be some limiting rules as well.

The concept of varying job exposure is a good thing, though.
 
Add to that tens of thousands dead from COVID, plus tens of thousands more with long term health issues from COVID...

I'd suggest we balanced out with eradicating influenza during the same period (the least celebrated accomplishment of all time)... but the vaccine injuries may swing the balance to more dead/injured, so your point is noted.
 
When Canada was adopting the C7 rifle a bunch of CWOs were worried that the troops may not be able to properly perform drill movements with the new family of weapons. Yes the struggle was real....
Facepalm emoji...
 
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