The New Brunswick RCMP says it understands the concerns raised by rural communities but says the police service is still the best placed to provide policing to rural areas.
The force has been criticized for its responsiveness and visibility in rural areas in recent years, but west district commander Supt. Andy LeClair says a new influx of front-line officers should help to address those concerns.
In this year’s budget, the province is spending $20 million to hire another 80 RCMP officers, with 51 being front-line officers.
“That’s going to translate into more visibility and presence and New Brunswickers will see that,” LeClair said.
But LeClair said issues unique to rural policing, such as distance, weather and geography, will remain.
“If the officer has to travel a large distance to get to someone it’s going to impact the response time,” he said.
“To expect that a police officer is just going to be solving crime in such a huge geographic area simply by being present, that’s not the truth.”
Many in rural New Brunswick have expressed frustration with the force in recent years. The province has also seen a rise in vigilantism, with the RCMP investigating a string of crimes on Deer Island earlier this month and incidents in the village of McAdam last year.
McAdam was also the site of a fiery public meeting where residents criticized the response times of officers.
LeClair condemned vigilantism and said it’s important that people continue to call the police when crime happens, even if they may have felt service wasn’t up to par in the past.
“You need to report crime when it happens. It may not lead to a conviction but we need that data in order to direct our resources accordingly,” he said.
Frustration with the force has seen some communities exploring other options. Carleton North is currently looking at establishing its own force and recently Fundy Shores and Eastern Charlotte have banded together to examine their options.
“Fundy shores in collaboration with Eastern Charlotte want to explore all areas of policing to be sure our residents are receiving the best value for their dollar,” Fundy Shores Mayor Denny Cogswell wrote in an email.
The Town of St. Andrews has written to Public Safety Minister Kris Austin to request that a large portion of the new RCMP officers be placed in Charlotte County, which Mayor Brad Henderson says would help restore some trust in the force. He says some feel it pointless to call the police to report petty crimes after waiting days to get a response from the force.
“Presence reassures, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is going to be fine but to see an increase in presence in RCMP and to see an increase in communication, it would go a long way for residents in our community and I’m sure a lot of communities in the area,” he said.
The town is supposed to have three dedicated officers, according to its contract with the force, but those officers are frequently pulled to surrounding communities, he says. Henderson says the town isn’t considering its own force, but says he would like to see more accountability from RCMP management arising from regular priority meetings.
“Municipal leaders should be part of that conversation or at least hear how RCMP plan to do it, because if you’re just setting a priority with no action plan it’s a feel-good statement, it’s not going to move the needle for your community,” he said.
LeClair said that along with getting more boots on the ground, the force also hopes to be more vocal about the crimes it is solving as a show of value to communities.
“I think that we need to document our successes in New Brunswick with respect to individuals that we do bring to justice,” he said.
“It’s about telling our story and you know when you listen to people there’s often the bad stories but the simple fact is in New Brunswick, there’s a lot of great success stories in terms of solving crime.”
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