A consulting firm is recommending the Town of Rocky Mountain House stick with the RCMP.
In a Aug. 5 presentation to council, Western Management Consultants (WMC) says in a small community with a “moderate” crime severity index (CSI) such as Rocky, the RCMP model is the most efficient and cost-effective, even amid the rising cost of RCMP contracts.
The group also conducted a series of surveys and focus groups with local residents which outlined a number of findings:
- People are generally supporting of the RCMP, seeing policing as an essential service
- People are increasingly concerned about mental health and housing concerns
- A general concern over perceived lack of visibility of RCMP in the community
The report comes in response to the town of Rocky Mountain House’s Jan. 27, 2025 request for a Municipal Police Model Study.
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Joyce Tustian, project lead for Western Management Consultants (WMC) says Rocky’s makeup makes it ill-suited to a municipal police force.
“Small municipalities, small municipal [police] forces lack economies of scale,” said Tustian. “You just aren’t big enough to do the things as a small municipality, that is cost-effective.”
Rocky Mountain House Crime Severity Index (CSI) compared to similar-sized communities. Rocky is the bar graph in light blue. (Western Management Consultants)
Independent police forces with 12-14 officers face challenges achieving 24/7 coverage, the report states: “Sustaining small municipal police forces is difficult without regional partnerships or significant funding, as they lack the economies of scale needed for efficiency.”
While the report acknowledged the town may indeed have better control over uniformed officers with the municipal force model, it also outlined challenges such as significant start-up costs, and operating expenses with a sworn officer complement of 12 and a community peace officer (CPO) complement of eight.
Among the report’s recommendations was strengthening the town’s existing municipal policing committee, even considering creating a new “Public Safety Manager” staff position.
Councillor Dale Shippelt questioned if hiring more staff was the solution.
“The problem I have is bureaucrats keep being added to the system,” he said. “I was really hoping you’d come to us to save us money, not cost us money”
The goal of the recommendation is to increase local control without major structural change.
The current plan with the RCMP was started on April 1, 2012 and covers 20 years. RCMP coverage for 2025 in Rocky has been budgeted at over $2.4 million.
The study is being funded in part by a $60,000 grant from the Alberta Indigenous/Municipal Police Transition Study Grant program, with the town contributing an additional $30,000 from its 2025 budget. The study will explore various policing models including:
- the current RCMP contract
- the creation of a Rocky Mountain House municipal police force
- contracting with another municipal police force
- contracting Alberta Sheriffs to act as the town’s police force
Tustian added that making a decision on policing now could also be advantageous in the future in the event Alberta moves more toward a provincial police force, as there’d be less administrative burden.
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Council accepted the presentation as information.
Read the entire WMC report here.
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