Alberta builds groundwork for optional provincial police agency for municipalities

Alberta's government is taking another step toward giving municipalities the option of ditching the RCMP in favour of a new provincial police service. Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis says an independent Alberta service could step in to help address concerns he's heard about the Mounties' staffing shortages and rising costs.

If passed, a proposed bill would mean a new agency must operate under a Crown corporation that would be at arm's length from the government.

An extra $6 million has been set aside for the agency's leadership team, but Ellis says if the province shifts about $136 million in annual Alberta Sheriffs funding for police work, there could be little startup costs.

Opposition NDP public safety critic David Shepherd says if hundreds of sheriffs are shifted to staff the new provincial police service, it raises questions about how the work they are currently doing will get done.

The legislation, if passed, would also lay down the rules for a new overarching Alberta Police Review Commission that will absorb the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team - known as ASIRT -to handle police oversight.