British Columbians split on idea of a provincial police force, poll finds

British Columbians are divided on the concept of changing the RCMP with a provincial police pressure, in accordance with a brand new ballot.

The survey, carried out by B.C.-based Analysis Co., discovered British Columbians locked in a statistical tie over the problem, with 39 per cent in assist and 38 per cent opposed. Almost 1 / 4 of British Columbians, 23 per cent, had been undecided.

In April, an all-party committee reviewing B.C.’s Police Act really useful the province finish its policing settlement with the RCMP and substitute it with a B.C. police service.

The idea was hottest in northern B.C. (45 per cent), the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island (43 per cent) and Metro Vancouver (40 per cent).

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Residents of southern B.C. had been the least eager about a provincial police pressure, with simply 26 per cent in favour.

Analysis Co. additionally polled British Columbians on the ‘defund the police’ motion, asking residents in the event that they agreed with calls “for divesting funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing types of public security and neighborhood assist.”

Almost half of respondents (49 per cent) agreed, whereas 38 per cent had been opposed and 14 per cent uncertain.

BC Inexperienced Occasion (66 per cent) voters had been essentially the most supportive of the concept, in contrast with 53 per cent of NDP voters and 50 per cent of BC Liberal voters within the 2020 election.

The ballot additionally discovered widespread backing for extra use of closed-circuit TV cameras as a approach to deter and remedy crime, with 77 per cent assist.

The ballot was carried out from July 4 to July 6, 2022, amongst 800 adults in British Columbia. The info has been statistically weighted in accordance with Canadian census figures for age, gender and area in Canada. The margin of error — which measures pattern variability — is plus or minus 3.5 proportion factors, 19 instances out of 20.