port policing City of Delta releases commissioned report on port policing and crime in BC seaports

[Chris Madsen]

Mayor George Harvie, with the assistance of Chief Constable Neil Dubord, from the City of Delta has released a commissioned report reviewing the state of policing in BC seaports, in particular the artificial island Roberts Bank adjoining Delta:

City of Delta Releases Report on Port Policing Calling for Urgent Action in Response to Port Security Challenges | City of Delta

The full text of the report prepared by Peter German & Associates dated 12 September 2023 is here:

Policing Our Ports_document design (delta.ca)

Several options are considered, none of which are particularly appealing.

Of course, once the Royal Canadian Mounted Police/Gendarmerie royale du Canada gets out of contract policing at the provincial and municipal levels over the next decade, port policing would seem to belong logically as part of the federal mandate as a federal police service, since the RCMP/GRC already has customs and excise, drugs and narcotics, and national security functions under federal policing. Gendarmes will have stop thinking they are beat cops.  Otherwise, many of them are going to be out of work. David Anderson tried to download the federal port policing function to the province and municipalities back in 1997 when the Ports Canada Police was disbanded. The federal government says port policing is the jurisdiction of the province, while the BC government says it is a federal responsibility. That is where the situation stands now. In the meantime, criminality thrives in the absence of any dedicated policing presence in the seaports.

Madsen_Salus_Journal_Volume_6_Number_1_2018_pp_26-43.pdf (salusjournal.com)