NWT - The federal government committed to installing RCMP detachments in Wrigley and Gameti next year, but Justice Minister Jackson Lafferty said that promise might not be kept.

"We're hearing more that they might delay for the next two years," Lafferty said. "It's just talk right now, there's nothing concrete.

"It was slated for 2011 and that's what we're still working with until we get a letter stating otherwise."

There has been no official word on whether the detachments will still be installed next year, so Lafferty is writing to federal Minister of Safety Vic Toews asking him to meet.

Lafferty said Yukon Justice Minister Marian Horne and Keith Peterson, Nunavut Justice Minister, have said they would also attend the meeting to lend their support.

"All three of us as a unit are going to meet with the federal minister and stress to him the importance of having detachments in small communities," Lafferty said.

Two RCMP officers currently serve Wrigley from Fort Simpson and Gameti is patrolled by two officers from Yellowknife.

Even though the officers patrol the communities regularly, a constant police presence in a community increases safety, Lafferty said.

"Having a detachment does create a preventative measurement, there is less crime when there is a detachment in a small isolated community," he said. "Presence alone makes a big difference."

MLA Kevin Menicoche said he agreed that while it is important to have officers patrol the community, Wrigley and other small communities need their own detachments.

"We do have two dedicated RCMP officers in Fort Simpson for Wrigley who are doing an exceptional job there," he said. "The plan going forward was eventually to have a full time detachment in Wrigley.

"It's still a priority with the community of Wrigley and myself and our government to have policing in our smaller communities."

The territorial government has ensured small communities have a police presence, but it's time for the federal government to fulfill its promise, Lafferty said.

"We as a territory, we're still committed, we provide policing services, hired those two officers for each community, now the federal government needs to step up to the plate," he said.

The territorial government is working on a plan in case neither community gets its own detachment next year, including the possibility of mobile detachments that would cost half as much to install.

"Right now, it's costing us between $4 (million) to $6 million for a detachment to be built in a community," he said. "We're throwing the idea around of what if we go with another structure, like a mobile with all the specs that is satisfactory to RCMP G Division, that could cost between $1 (million) to $1.5 million."

None of the plans have been finalized, Lafferty said.

"Those are just initial discussions that we are having," he said.

In the meantime, Lafferty said the territorial government will continue to lobby for permanent detachments to be installed.

"We continue to pressure the federal government," he said.

Wrigley resident and assistant band manager Gaylene Moses said community members would like to see an RCMP detachment in their community

"It's sad," she said. "It would be nice to have an RCMP presence around the community just to make us feel safer and to have someone to talk to."

She said a permanent nurse and an RCMP officer used to live in the community, but she is not sure why that is no longer the case.

"We had a cop here and a nurse, I don't know what happened," she said. "We no longer have a constable that resides here. We have officers who come, but it's not like before when they lived here."

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