After proposing its own police force, Cumberland County sticks with the RCMP

After years of evaluation of the police services and a request for proposals, Cumberland County remains with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The northern Nova Scotia council says its police department review board has received three bids, one from the Amherst Police Department, another from Saint Mary’s University Professor Stephen Schneider and a third from the RCMP.

Mayor Murray Scott told CBC News Thursday that the Amherst Police Department’s bid would have merely expanded the force’s jurisdiction to the Springhill community.

Schneider’s proposal aimed to create a pilot community security agency, intended to co-exist with traditional police work and address some of its limitations.

Scott said this left Cumberland County little choice but to accept the RCMP’s proposal, which covered the entire county with the exception of Amherst, which has its own police force, and Oxford, which has its own RCMP detachment.

Complaints about lack of police presence, response times

As of 2022, Cumberland County had 27 RCMP officers assigned to the area.

Among residents’ concerns during public consultations were complaints about the lack of police presence in communities and slow response times to emergencies.

One of Scott’s biggest frustrations stems from the RCMP’s current style of policing, where officers are stationed in the area, but not necessarily in every city.

“We really believe as a municipality that the neighborhood style doesn’t work for us,” Scott said. “If you want to have community policing, you need people who are involved in the community.”

He said this will be one of the main concerns that will be presented to the Justice Department and the county’s RCMP once they start talking about how to proceed.

Scott said the council will not be satisfied with the status quo, but acknowledges that nothing has changed so far.

It is up to the city to negotiate with the Justice Department and RCMP to find a mutually beneficial solution, he said.

“That’s what the citizens have been asking us for. That’s what they expect.”

In a statement, the Nova Scotia RCMP declined to share details of its proposal, but said it looks forward “to working with the municipality, community members and the Department of Justice to ensure the policing model in Cumberland best supports residents.” “

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