The District of Squamish wants the province to give more funding to RCMP and allocate money based on increase in tourism and industrial activity as well as population.
Unless they have their own police force, local governments share policing cost with both the province and the federal government.
District says many regions in British Columbia are experiencing population growth and an increase in tourism and industrial activity, but don’t get the matching policing resources.
“BC has seen an almost 30% increase in provincial parks and recreation site visitation since 2014, most of which are outside municipal boundaries,” district says.
The increase in criminal activity in tourism or industrial hot spots outside the district boundaries strains existing police resources.
The province must allocate more funds to such regions where tourism and industrial activity continue to put pressure on municipal police, district says.
Last year, the City of Colwood near Victoria had brought a similar resolution to UBCM, while noting that there was a shortfall of $720,000 for local police funding.
This was forcing municipalities to pay more than their equitable share, the city noted.
In response, the provincial government said it had made significant investments in the BC RCMP Provincial Service, increasing an average of approximately $18 million per year since the agreement was signed in 2012.
The province will continue to work with RCMP to address the funding issues, BC said.
