Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Increasing police costs concern council

‘Insurance policy’ of integrated police forces could cost $250,000 annually
1441police
On the Case A member of the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team photographs a bullet casing following a fatal shooting in the village this past March. It was Whistler's first murder in about 20 years. Photo by Coast Mountain Photography.

The cost of policing is going up again this year, leaving Whistler with the tough decision of chipping in or opting out of specialized services.

Council’s concern about the increased costs came to the surface at a recent meeting with top RCMP personnel.

Whistler, like other communities in the Lower Mainland District, is being asked to contribute over and above its regular policing costs to access five integrated services, which are specialized teams of officers trained in their particular fields. Those five services are: the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT), Police Dog Services, Forensic Identification Services, the Emergency Response Team (ERT) and Traffic Services.

“The district and I have taken a position that these are things that we should be participating in,” said Sea to Sky Regional Police Services Insp. Norm McPhail.

While council recognizes the advantages to integrating services, it remains concerned about the increased costs on its already-strapped budget.

“I think their approach makes a lot of sense,” said Councillor Bob Lorriman, after the meeting. “I think we as the consumers, if you will, will get a better product at a better price. But the problem is, we as a community of Whistler don’t really need those services.”

RCMP Assistant Commander Peter German likened the payments to an insurance policy. By kicking in for the services, Whistler will have them at hand should anything, such as a homicide, happen. The alternative is to pay out more money if and when an event occurs.

“It’s an insurance policy for the community,” explained German.

“We recognize that policing is expensive… I don’t know how better we can deliver this service.”

The exact cost for the increased integrated services is not clear due to ongoing negotiations between the RCMP and municipal staff but it is somewhere in the realm of $250,000. That’s in addition to the $2.9 million Whistler spends every year on regular RCMP services.

“We don’t have murders up here,” said Councillor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, after the meeting. “We’ve had three in 40 years so I don’t know that we need IHIT. We don’t have protected witnesses traveling through our town to go to court, so I don’t know that we need ERT. Maybe we can make do with what we have without having to buy any of these additional integrated services.

“It’s a pretty expensive insurance policy…. If we have one murder every 20 years, do we really want to be spending a quarter of a million dollars a year for the investigation costs for that murder? I don’t know.”

Last year Whistler set aside $100,000 for the homicide and emergency response teams but in the end, it opted out of the payment.

That same year Whistler had its first homicide in roughly 20 years.

Though Whistler didn’t pay for the service, IHIT arrived on scene from the Lower Mainland.

Fortunately, the murder suspect was apprehended within minutes because a police officer and his police dog were standing nearby in the village.

Insp. McPhail said Whistler did not have to foot the extra costs for that investigation, despite the fact it didn’t pay for the IHIT service.

“We still had the response and they still did provide significant support to that at no cost to Whistler, in the spirit of what needs to be provided,” he said.

Had the murder resulted in a complicated, extensive, cross-jurisdictional investigation, it could have cost Whistler in the realm of $1 million, or more.

The request for more money comes at a time when Whistler is already seeing increases in the cost of police services. Last year the budget for overtime officers increased roughly two and a half times. Rather than pay just $400 per overtime shift, communities are now required to pay for the cost of getting the officers to and from that shift, which brings the overtime budget to roughly $1,000 per officer.

“There was a significant increase to the overtime budget to compensate for that,” said Insp. McPhail.

Councillor Lorriman asked the RCMP officers at the meeting if the payment for integrated services could be used to bring additional officers to the resort for long weekends and special events.

“We’d rather spend the money before the homicide happens and avoid the homicide,” he said after the meeting.

And while ERT officers could come to Whistler for special events, they would be removed immediately if an event such as a hostage taking happened elsewhere in the district. That means Whistler cannot plan, or budget, for those officers to be on hand.

This comes at a time when Whistler is getting busier and council wants to see more officers in town during high traffic weekends.

“Safety and security is really important to us but it’s getting expensive,” said Lorriman. “It’s going up at a much higher rate than traditional inflationary rates are.”

Council is now preparing its 2008 budget.

Whistler’s decision on integrated police services may be made in concert with the District of Squamish.

McPhail said: “Council will make whatever decision it makes based on this report and any other inquiries they do with Squamish because they’re working with the District of Squamish on how best to provide services for the regional services.”

A dog team is based out of Squamish and recent negotiations with the RCMP have also resulted in a highway reconstructionist based out of that detachment, to better respond to highway accidents and closures.