Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Providence (Nov 16/01) - There is a lack of police presence in Fort Providence, according to Deh Cho MLA Michael McLeod.

Making a statement in the legislative assembly last week, McLeod said community leaders and residents alike have expressed concerns about being under-policed. Citing a rising crime rate, he said the three members of the Fort Providence detachment are spread too thin, having to patrol 250 kilometres of highway and the nearby community of Kakisa. As well, at least one of the officers is away for training or vacation at any given time, McLeod said.

McLeod said cultural differences are a challenge, as the majority of crimes are committed by aboriginal people but most of the RCMP members are non-aboriginal.

"It should be standard practice that everybody takes cultural awareness and learns about the issues," McLeod said.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Jack Kruger, district commander for the southern NWT, said he recently completed a review of the Fort Providence detachment and found no problems whatsoever.

"The members are not overworked ... the policing is of top quality. I'm totally satisfied there were no deficiencies in the detachment," he said, adding that the crime rate is not increasing. "It would be great to have five men in Providence ... the reality is we don't have them."

Kruger said the RCMP have a designated highway patrol unit that has filled the gap since the territorial government disposed of their own.

McLeod said his statement in the legislative assembly was also an attempt to bring attention to territorial government's contract with the RCMP, which he said has remained unchanged for too long.

"We're paying social workers more, we're paying nurses more, we're increasing budgets for them but ... we're not doing that for the RCMP," he said.

Jim Antoine, then Justice minister, said there are no new additional resources for policing in the budget.

The previous week, McLeod had called on MACA to provide more funding for bylaw officers. Kruger said a bylaw officer would be very useful in Fort Providence.

"We had suggested it," he said. "We're totally supportive of it."