Municipal Police Service Review

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The City of Grande Prairie currently contracts the RCMP as its municipal police service provider through a Municipal Police Services Agreement (MPSA). The City also provides operational and administrative support for the RCMP through its Municipal Support Section, Enforcement Services, Mobile Outreach and Collision Reporting Centre.

The Government of Alberta is currently conducting its own review of a provincial police service. If the Province were to form their own police service, then the RCMP will no longer be available to provide municipal contract policing in the City of Grande Prairie or elsewhere in Alberta.

In anticipation of a coming decision point of police service delivery in the community, Grande Prairie City Council initiated a Police Service Model Review to assess the historical, current and future states of policing in Grande Prairie.


Following the review, Council instructed administration to develop a detailed transition and public consultation plan to further assess establishing a municipal police service, which would provide Grande Prairie with a local, responsive and independent municipal police that meets the community needs.

Community Engagement

The City has contracted MNP to execute the community engagement and detailed transition plan for the establishment of a municipal police service.

The community engagement includes:

  • A survey that takes approximately 10 minutes
  • A questions space to ask questions about municipal policing
  • Two public open houses in January
  • Stakeholder interviews and focus groups

Survey

Share your feedback on what your priorities are for a modern municipal police service from December 6 - 23. This survey is now closed.

Public Open Houses

Residents are invited to two public open houses to learn more about the municipal policing model and how it compares with Grande Prairie's current policing model. There will also be opportunities to provide feedback on the two models with MNP, the community engagement consultant.



The public open houses take place at Teresa Sargent Hall inside Montrose Cultural Centre (9839 103 Ave) during the following dates and times:

  • January 16 | 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
  • January 17 | 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

The public open houses are drop-in format and free to attend for all residents.

What are the next steps for the City?

Results from the survey and open house will be compiled and analyzed and a final report will be presented to Council in February, 2023.


The City of Grande Prairie currently contracts the RCMP as its municipal police service provider through a Municipal Police Services Agreement (MPSA). The City also provides operational and administrative support for the RCMP through its Municipal Support Section, Enforcement Services, Mobile Outreach and Collision Reporting Centre.

The Government of Alberta is currently conducting its own review of a provincial police service. If the Province were to form their own police service, then the RCMP will no longer be available to provide municipal contract policing in the City of Grande Prairie or elsewhere in Alberta.

In anticipation of a coming decision point of police service delivery in the community, Grande Prairie City Council initiated a Police Service Model Review to assess the historical, current and future states of policing in Grande Prairie.


Following the review, Council instructed administration to develop a detailed transition and public consultation plan to further assess establishing a municipal police service, which would provide Grande Prairie with a local, responsive and independent municipal police that meets the community needs.

Community Engagement

The City has contracted MNP to execute the community engagement and detailed transition plan for the establishment of a municipal police service.

The community engagement includes:

  • A survey that takes approximately 10 minutes
  • A questions space to ask questions about municipal policing
  • Two public open houses in January
  • Stakeholder interviews and focus groups

Survey

Share your feedback on what your priorities are for a modern municipal police service from December 6 - 23. This survey is now closed.

Public Open Houses

Residents are invited to two public open houses to learn more about the municipal policing model and how it compares with Grande Prairie's current policing model. There will also be opportunities to provide feedback on the two models with MNP, the community engagement consultant.



The public open houses take place at Teresa Sargent Hall inside Montrose Cultural Centre (9839 103 Ave) during the following dates and times:

  • January 16 | 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
  • January 17 | 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

The public open houses are drop-in format and free to attend for all residents.

What are the next steps for the City?

Results from the survey and open house will be compiled and analyzed and a final report will be presented to Council in February, 2023.


Questions Space

Use this section to ask any questions related to the municipal police service review. City Administration will review and follow-up to all posted questions.  

Please note, questions may be responded to publicly or privately, depending on the scope and sensitivity of the question.

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    What is the expected date of launch? ie. boots on the ground.

    pleblanc asked about 2 months ago

    If the decision is to move forward with a Municipal Police Service then the City would commence establishing the Municipal Police Commission in the spring. The Commission would likely then hire the Chief of Police in the summer, meaning the initial recruitment of police officers would commence in the fall. The transition to becoming the police service of jurisdiction will be a multi-year process. To learn more about the transition plan, please click on the link here. 

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    How would this affect Peace Officers? Are they connected to RCMP or a separate entity? Are peace officers provincial or federal? Would they continue to work with any new police force like they do currently with the RCMP?

    Lisa asked about 2 months ago

    Peace Officers are employed by the City of Grande Prairie and are not connected to the RCMP. They do however provide support to the RCMP and provide emergency response, investigation and education related to animal control, bylaw enforcement and provincial statue enforcement. Please click on the document here to learn more about policing in Grande Prairie.

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    If current RCMP are facing challenges to recruitment, what would make it any different by moving to a municipal service? Also what level of training is required by municipal police vs RCMP?

    Ful.360 asked about 2 months ago

    The following documents provide detailed information on training, recruitment and retention. Please click on the links to learn more. 

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    How much training will these individuals have? How qualified will they be?

    C. Rhyason asked about 2 months ago

    The following documents provide detailed information on training and recruitment. Please click on the links to learn more. 

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    How do you propose to attract and retain the qualified professionals to staff the law enforcement positions competing with the rest of the country where this challenge is not being met.

    oldgper asked about 2 months ago

    Please click on the link here to view a comparison on retention. 

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    Cost comparison for municipal vs RCMP?

    Charles Sleep asked about 2 months ago

    MNP LLP is currently conducting third-party financial analysis on the City’s financial assumptions and will deliver their report to Council in February. Preliminary internal modelling has shown that a municipal police service designed to maintain or enhance the current state can be achieved within the existing City budget.

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    How does one answer a survey on a new municipal police force that they do not support? I'm in favour of maintaining the RCMP as our municipal police force and do not appreciate the approach taken to replace them. Can a major decision like this not go to a referendum first (provincial or municipal)?

    James asked about 1 month ago

    Thank you for the question. The survey was only one step of a multi-step process to allow City Council to best understand the current state of policing in the City and what policing model makes most sense for the community into the future. 

    You can provide additional feedback by attending our Public Open Houses on January 16 and 17 from 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at Teresa Sargent Hall in the Montrose Cultural Centre. More details can be found here: engage.cityofgp.com/municipalpolice

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    What does the City or Province hope to gain with a provincial police force? If there are changes needed then work with the current force and make them. Starting all over seems to be a waste of money and time in my opinion.

    BuddyTat asked about 2 months ago

    The City has not formed an opinion on a Provincial Police Service. The municipal policing review is focused on assessing the advantages and disadvantages of continuing the existing RCMP contract versus the formation of a new municipal police service. The review involves a multi-step process that will identify the law enforcement needs of our community and compare what model would best support meeting those needs. 

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    Has the city looked at all costs accociated with the switch including training, equipment, technology systems, capital investments such as buildings/vehicles. I am sure there is a huge cost to this over and above our current use of the RCMP, where is the money coming from? Taxpayer base? Have they been asked if they want to pay more for a possibly inferior police force? Why are other municipalities that have tried to switch over to a municipal police force switching back to the rcmp? Is it the cost? The difficulty recruiting quality help?

    Cary asked about 1 month ago

    Thank you for the questions. The Municipal Police Transition team has completed initial modeling of these items and understands the implications related to both start-up/transition and on-going operations. City Council has hired a third-party consultant to perform independent analysis of the proposed policing model and the associated costs. The consultant report is expected to be delivered at a City Council meeting in February. 

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    How would you deal with out of control petty crime in Grande Prairie.

    Fuzzee Dee asked about 1 month ago

    The Municipal Police Transition team has been tasked with developing a policing model that is responsive to local concerns (such as petty theft) and properly resourced and equipped to deal with such concerns. The specific operational approaches will need to be developed by the leaders hired to operate the Police Service. 

Page last updated: 30 Jan 2023, 09:45 AM