CALCULATING THE TRUE COST OF MUNICIPAL PUBLIC SECURITY PATROLS

In stark contrast to the demerged West Island municipalities within the Montreal agglomeration, the borough of PierrefondsRoxboro has opted to axe its local public security patrol.

The borough council’s decision last month to reject tenders to provide the public security service for the 2018-2023 period was based on cost. Borough Mayor Jim Beis said the offers came in at 25 per cent over the expected amount. The borough had been paying around $200,000 annually for the out-sourced service, which began operating about 20 years ago. PierrefondsRoxboro’s public security service contract ended Saturday.

The decision was also based on the fact that certain responsibilities had been removed from the domain of the borough’s public security squad. Montreal Police began handling parking issues in the borough in 2015 and animal control was centralized. Beis said the borough’s urban planning officials and inspectors would be able to handle permits and bylaw compliance.

“Over $200,000 was being spent for a service that had very limited intervention capacities,” Beis said, adding public security patrols would cost the borough more than $1 million if a new fiveyear contract had been awarded.

“We’re not alone in this. There are a lot of boroughs that have opted to not have a (24/7) public security because of the cost associated with it and also because … we now have (police) assuming a role, animal control in Montreal assuming a role and the urban planners assuming a role. All of that says to me there are proper authorities to deal with issues that we deal with on a day-to-day basis,” he said. Beis added that the borough will be reviewing its future public security needs.

“We’re rethinking what the model could look like locally,” he said, suggesting a public security service could be contracted periodically or for specific events.

Beis said Montreal borough residents can also dial 311 for non-emergency neighbourhood issues.

West Island cities including Beaconsfield, Dorval, Kirkland and Pointe-Claire deploy their own 24/7 public security patrols. This is on top of the significant share each demerged municipality pays to the agglomeration for the services of the Montreal police.

The borough of PierrefondsRoxboro doesn’t collect property taxes and is allotted its local-services budget by the central city. Fire and police department costs are covered in Montreal’s budget.

Meanwhile in Pointe-Claire, city hall spokesman Marie-Pier Paquette- Séguin said the city pays the agglo $17.1 million for the police department and invests $2.2 million annually in its public security patrol.

The patrol has 24 employees, seven of whom perform inspections to deal with compliance of permits.

Pointe-Claire has just over 32,600 residents, vast commercial and industrial sectors and its 2018 budget is $135.9 million.

This year, Beaconsfield will pay $530,939 for its public security patrols and a $5.4-million share for police services.

Kirkland’s public security patrol costs are $404,000. Its agglo share for police services is about $7.7 million.

West Island municipal patrols preserve public peace in parks and municipal buildings, enforce bylaw and parking compliances, check for damage to public property and deal with noise disturbances other public-nuisance issues.

West Island cities pay more for police services than the actual neighbourhood station patrols rendered, because the shares paid by suburbs help defray costs for riot squads as well as arson or murder investigations which, thankfully, are not as common here as in central Montreal.

For better or worse, West Island taxpayers seem fine with their cities paying for public security patrols as a preventive measure, approving of the extra visibility of the patrol officers who can alert police of possible criminal activity in their neighbourhoods.

There are a lot of boroughs that have opted to not have a (24/ 7) public security because of the cost associated with it. PIERREFONDSROXBORO MAYOR JIM BEIS