Wolfville Policing Services Review

BACKGROUND:

The RCMP has been providing police services in the Town of Wolfville for more than 20 years. Last November, citing a need for due diligence, service level concerns, costs and plans for a new Town Hall, Council decided to begin a police services review.

In 2000, after moving away from Wolfville’s own municipal force to the RCMP as a service provider, a Statement of Roles and Responsibilities document outlined the expectations for the policing service. At that time, community policing was a priority, including bylaw enforcement and regular foot patrols. These priorities remain in place today.

Wolfville currently pays for nine officers, including a Sergeant and one detachment assistant. The Wolfville officers all report out of the Wolfville Detachment of the RCMP.

Currently, the Kings RCMP operates under a District Policing Model, which means all officers within the district, including the dedicated Wolfville members, can be deployed within the district based on need and priorities. Wolfville benefits from this on key weekends where additional RCMP officers from New Minas are brought in to support the Wolfville complement of officers, but Wolfville officers can also be deployed to other areas within Kings if required, which could possibly lead to slower response times on some of the less urgent calls within Town.

The Policing Service Review allows the Town to explore all options and determine whether the RCMP is the best fit to meet the community’s needs or if another, alternative service delivery model, would be more effective.

Policing Services Review Update - March 2023

On February 24, 2023, the Town of Wolfville was contacted by the Contract Administrator with the Department of Justice regarding our standing in the current PPSA which expires in 2032. The Department of Justice had been contacted by Public Safety Canada to engage in discussions regarding Nova Scotia’s intent for addressing the increased population for Wolfville to over 5000. As far as anyone can recall, this is the first time (outside of amalgamation and consolidation) that a municipality under the PPSA has hit the population threshold during a contract period.

It has been clarified with the Province that this decision does not preclude Council from making a different decision with respect to our policing services at the end of the Policing Review. It was also confirmed that the Town needs to make a decision now and is not able to wait for the Policing Review to be concluded. Furthermore, it was also confirmed that if Wolfville decided to move into an MPSA there is a process we can follow if we decided to re-join the PPSA in the future, although the 70-30 split may be impacted by the Town’s population at the time and on any of Public Safety Canada’s policies at the time of re-entry and does require the approval of Public Safety Canada and the Department of Justice.

The RCMP Liaison Officer has informed the Town that any contractual changes would take effect on April 1, 2024 after the one-year notice period has expired.

On March 25 Council voted to enter into a municipal policing services agreement with the RCMP.

Policing Services Review Update - June 2023 - Community Safety Office

Wolfville is moving forward with a Community Safety Office feasibility study, led by Dr. Stephen Schneider and when the study is completed in the fall and the final report is delivered, Wolfville will have a plan to launch their own, unique Community Safety Office. Through months of engagement, Wolfville stakeholders have identified on-going, unmitigated nuisance party occurrences and road safety as priority areas that need attention. Community members have also noted the need for better efforts on small crime and property damage. A Community Safety Office model is an innovative way to complement our current policing model.

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