Would an integrated police force benefit the North Shore? Part 3

Do you think a single North Shore police force would benefit the residents of North and West Vancouver?

The creation of a single police force would indeed have some benefits to the residents of the North Shore. However, there are benefits and there are costs.

First the benefits: Better coordination of resources on the entire North Shore, potential less duplication of services such as two jail cells, greater economies of scale, more local control of overall policing direction, and others.

The potential costs include increased costs for policing in North Vancouver (West Van pays significantly more per capita than does North Van), changes in levels of service (West Van has a no call too small response, North Van does not which would require more funding to provide), amalgamation costs (new uniforms, uniting of equipment, protocols and procedures) and overall governance (three municipalities, three councils, one police force: what happens when one council wants to cut the budget and another wants increased service?) among other things.

Currently the three N.S. municipalities and the two First Nations are conducting a review of services. From this study all of us will better be able to make decisions regarding the future of policing here. There may be large changes, there may be not. And there may even be a middle ground where we get the best of both worlds.