FAQ

Q: Is there always a police officer on duty in my area or on patrol?

A: In New Brunswick there are essentially 2 types of contracts between the communities and the RCMP. This is important to understand as not all contracts or type of policing agreements offer the same type of service.

Let's take Campbellton City Detachment for example. The City of Campbellton has a direct contract (this has now been replaced with extended agreements) with the RCMP. The agreement states that the RCMP has to offer a 24 hour service to the municipality. The agreement also states how many officers will be assigned to this duty and in return how much the municipality has to pay per officer. This contract is very specific.

However the other type of policing agreement falls under what is called the umbrella policing. This calls for a policing service based on a 16 hours per day concept. For members of the Public living within the District 9 boundaries, this would mean that for those living outside Dalhousie and Campbellton, the police would be on duty for at least 16 hours out of a day. Different shift schedules can stretch this coverage sometimes for up to 22 hours out of 24.

Naturally, the umbrella concept offers a lower police visibility but it is still an affordable option for those smaller communities. The Province of New Brunswick and the RCMP are currently looking at the possibility of offering a Regional Service. This would allow smaller communities to pool their resources together in order to obtain more police coverage.

It should be added that the umbrella concept also provides at no cost to the communities, the services of specialized RCMP units such as;

• Forensic Identification Units
• Major Crime Units
• Dog sections
• Tactical troops
• Under Water Recovery services
• Emergency Response Team services
• Collision Reconstruction
• Forensic Laboratories
• Air services

These services also fall under the Provincial Policing agreement. Again many of these services are possible because resources from every communities are pooled together. This means that police officers who are working in a specific area can sometimes be called to work elsewhere in the Province. So if sometimes you don't see your police officers, you can still rest assure that they are busy somewhere else in your neighbouring communities.