There’s room for improvement in the way the City of Williams Lake manages and utilizes its policing agreement says a performance audit released by the Auditor General for Local Government this week.
“We found a few areas where the city lacked awareness and understanding of the agreement,” Auditor General Gordon Ruth said. “This included a lack of the capability to question RCMP expenditures they don’t understand or that lack adequate supporting information.”
The audit examined the city’s policing agreement between 2010 and 2013 and was one of five audits done in the province.
During the audit work, city staff became more aware of provisions added to the Municipal Policing Unit Agreement (MPUA) regarding RCMP cost items and subsequently enhanced its cost monitoring practices.
There was some praise for the fact the city and the detachment worked co-operatively and communicated regularly on policing priorities, policing budgets and crime trends.
However, even though those meetings were taking place on a bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis, there were no minutes or records kept.
As a result, the audit suggested, there may be opportunities to streamline these meetings and improve the structure of communications relating to policing in Williams Lake.
“The city, working with the detachment, would benefit from reviewing, clarifying and documenting the frequency of policing-related meetings, their purpose, record keeping and documenting requirements and methods of ensuring follow up on decisions reached at these meetings.”
Another key recommendation is for the city to develop a policing committee to ensure sound oversight, Ruth said, noting other communities are already doing this and it is a good practice.
“We are thinking the policing committee could be open to meeting during our committee of the whole so that the entire public can be engaged,” Mayor Walt Cobb said.
Cobb said the report covered a time period when he wasn’t mayor, but since the MPUA came into play in 2012, cities have a lot more say now about policing than they did in the past.
Williams Lake was also commended for its community policing programs, and held up as an example for other communities.
Ruth said the city responded positively to all of the audit’s recommendations and is committed to respond to them.
