Police computer costs double
Lois Jackson
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: October 16, 2009 9:35 AM
The price of the new province-wide computer system that connects every police department in B.C. is about to double.
By an order of the provincial government made in 2003, every municipal police department and RCMP detachment must use PRIME (Police Records Information Management Environment), a system that provides instant access to information about criminals and crimes.
Currently, PRIME charges $500 an officer.
That is about to double to $1,000, according to a written notice sent out by Solicitor-General Kash Heed.
For Delta, with 173 officers, the result will be an increase from $85,000 to $173,000. That’s about what it costs to hire two constables.
Delta mayor Lois Jackson, who chairs the Delta Police Board, said there has been no explanation for the price hike.
“There is no oversight to the budget, the spending,” Jackson said.
“We’re just not getting it.”
Jackson, who also chairs the Metro Vancouver board of directors, wants the province to move PRIME into the E-Comm 911 system which has a board of directors composed of local municipal representatives.
“PRIME is a good program but somebody has to have oversight,” Jackson said.
In Surrey, which has 615 officers, the cost of PRIME will rise from $307,500 to $615,000.
dferguson@surreyleader.com
v2
