Oxford Joins Wait List for Police Change
The Town of Oxford seems to be perpetually dealing with the matter of policing services. The latest news, in the form of a letter from the Provincial Minister of Justice, Brad Johns, places a roadblock to any hope of immediate resolution to the matter of the policing services model and the significant price tag paid by the town for RCMP coverage.
The Town had asked the Minister for a General Duty Police Resourcing Model analysis, which is a requirement before any municipality may request changes to its policing services contract.
Johns noted the cost, complexity, and staff hours that go into doing that analysis are significant. He wrote that these were prepared in both 2019 and 2021 for Oxford, and in those instances, “did not support substantial resource change...”.
The Minister also noted that the Province has announced its own review of policing, expected to be completed in two years’ time, and suggested that the town should “consider the possible outcomes of such a review” before revisiting the issue.
Mayor Henley has frequently made his views clear on the price tag for the town’s RCMP contract, which this year has risen to $560-thousand dollars (which is the town’s portion of the bill, where the province and federal governments also contribute a subsidy, such that the actual cost of policing in Oxford is over $900-thousand dollars per year for a town of approximately 1400 residents).
Efforts in recent years to find ways to reduce that bill have yielded little result, despite extensive committee, council, and staff time, public meetings, and cooperation with the Municipality of Cumberland with which Oxford’s RCMP contract is intertwined.
Henley says he’s frustrated with the situation, and that there seems to be almost nothing that can be done in the near term to reduce that significant burden on the town’s budget.
Without permission from the Minister of Justice, Oxford will continue paying that bill and await the outcomes of the provincial review of policing services, as well as a parallel review being undertaken by the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities.
In a recent interview with Six Rivers Morning Talk host Bill Martin, Cumberland Mayor Murray Scott also expressed his disappointment with the inability of municipalities to reduce policing costs and improve service coverage.
Mayor Scott says he believes the only way we’ll see any major structural change in policing is if the province drives that effort.
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