ROTHENBURGER: A Kamloops Police Service is becoming more of a possibility

KAMLOOPS POLICE SERVICE. Has a nice ring to it.

But is it what we really want? With the decision finally being made in Surrey to switch from RCMP to a municipal police force, and talk at the federal level of dramatically changing the RCMP’s role, advocates of a Kamloops municipal police force will undoubtedly take heart.

It’s still up to Kamloops City council whether to continue contracting the RCMP for policing or establish its own police force instead, but that choice could soon be taken away.

In Surrey, the issue has been debated for years. The City council that was elected last year decided to stick with the RCMP instead of continuing a transition to its own Surrey Police Service but this week Solicitor General Mike Farnworth took it out of their hands. Surrey, he decreed, will be policed by the SPS and the RCMP phased out.

It’s a typical top-down decision from an NDP government that believes, like a stern parent, it should tell municipalities how to live.

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Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.