Alberta plans to create independent police agency as alternative option to RCMP

The Alberta government wants to create a new provincial police service using about half of the sheriff workforce, to offer municipalities an alternative to the RCMP.

Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis tabled a bill Monday that would take the next step toward creating a provincial police entity, by empowering the province to create a police Crown agency.

"This will be one more option for municipalities when determining the best approach to law enforcement in their communities," Ellis said during a news conference on Monday morning.

Ellis said the RCMP would still be the official police service in the province, should the bill pass and the government opt to create the agency.

He said Alberta municipal leaders tell him the cost of maintaining RCMP service in their communities is rising, while vacant positions have left some rural residents waiting too long for help when they call 911.

Alberta RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for a response on Monday afternoon.

Ellis first made public the idea of drafting sheriffs into police work a year ago, when the legislature passed a similar bill.

Ellis said there are about 600 sheriffs performing police-like duties who could be deployed as officers, once they receive extra training. There are more than 1,200 people working with Alberta Sheriffs, Ellis said.

He did not have an estimated cost of standing up a new Crown police agency, or a timeline to do it, available Monday.

In 2021, a PwC report pegged the cost of creating a provincial police service, and transitioning Alberta RCMP assets to a provincial agency, to be least $366 million. The province would also lose $170 million worth of federal funding that was paying part of the cost of local RCMP service at the time.

The United Conservative Party government's latest proposal is different, envisioning provincial officers working alongside RCMP.

Ellis said a proposal to transition sheriffs would cost less than the 2021 estimate, because personnel and equipment could be transferred.

"We're not starting from a position of zero and then building up," he said.

He said this year's provincial budget has $6 million set aside to hire a new chief of police and senior staff and begin establishing the organization.