Representatives of the province and RCMP Lower Mainland District headquarters heard a blast from former St. Sgt. Ed Hill about a lack of police presence in Gibsons at its Policing Transition Select Committee meeting on Feb. 9.
Hill, a volunteer on the committee and the last officer in charge at the RCMP detachment in Gibsons when it closed in late 2002 took issue with what he views as a lack of policing in the community and poor connections between the RCMP and town residents. Highlighting a “straw poll” he conducted, he said he has yet to encounter a Gibson resident who could tell him the name of an RCMP officer currently serving the community. He also stated that if he had placed daily bets over the past year against the chance that an average citizen could report seeing a police officer or vehicle in the town in the previous 24 hours, he “would have a stack of cash."
Prior to the Jan. 1, 2003 integration of the town’s RCMP unit into the Sunshine Coast detachment based in Sechelt, Hill said there were up to 14 officers reporting at the Gibsons office. He recalled at that time those officers and their families lived in the town, were involved with local sports groups, churches and clubs, and their children attended school in the community. “It was a community detachment. They made a TV show about it and it was like that,” he stated.
Based on his knowledge of how policing works on the Coast, Hill said he did not place blame for the situation on the officers and management of the local detachment. “But someone, somewhere, some how has dropped the ball,” Hill told the meeting attendees.
Inspector Joseph Fortin, representing RCMP district headquarters at the meeting, said he was willing to meet “the old fashion way, in person” with Hill and other representatives of the committee regarding these concerns.
As the meeting opened, chairperson and Town Mayor Bill Beamish provided an update on the town’s population, confirmed by 2021 census results released earlier that day at 4,758, and what that meant for the group’s mandate. Council established the committee to provide advice on an anticipated transition to a Town policing detachment model. With a head count below the 5,000 threshold that would require that change, the committee agreed to carry on to help identify and advance Gibsons’ current policing needs.
To provide some context to town population changes, Beamish noted that when the current council took office in 2018, the town had 600 residential units approved and pending construction “on the books." He noted that some of those approved in developments like Gospel Rock and Parkland did not get built as quickly as had been planned for and with fewer new homes being added, population growth was lower than anticipated.
He also pointed out that on the May 11, 2021 census date, 200 vacant dwellings were identified in the town. “If those homes had been occupied by residents the count could have gone over 5,000,” Beamish stated.
Representatives of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Katherine St. Dennis and Kevin Plummer, provided a presentation at the event on the process of establishing a policing service for a community passing the 5,000 population threshold. Beamish thanked them for the information stating that the town likely has “only about five years” before it will again face a potential policing transition.
In response to a question from Beamish about a town submission provided to the Special Committee on Reforming the BC Police Act last spring, St. Dennis noted that the report and findings of that committee were due to be released April 29. Gibson's submission requested changes on how costs related to establishing a municipal police force are administered and enhancements to the Coast's RCMP staffing and resource levels.
