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Regional police are multijurisdictional police forces which cover at least two administrative divisions.

Canada

A Durham Regional Police car participates in the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Ontario Special Olympics in 2019.

In Canada, there are three main types of regional police force. There are those that are operated by regional municipalities in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec; those shared by two independent municipalities, such as the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force; and those that are operated by a single municipality but contracted to serve other municipalities, like the Victoria Police Department and Thunder Bay Police Service.[1] Many Indigenous communities are too small to sustain independent police forces — the Canadian reserve system operated on the assumption that Indigenous families required less land than settler families and routinely gave away reserve lands to settlers without Indigenous consultation or consent[2] — and several instead maintain regional police agencies, either by contracting police services out to a neighbouring municipal police force or by sharing police services with several other First Nations or Indigenous communities.[3]

There are several police services in Nova Scotia that have "regional" in their name and serve regional municipalities, but they are not regional police forces in the traditional sense. While regional municipalities in Ontario and Quebec form an "upper tier" (county level) of government, coordinating services like police and roads for several constituent municipalities (making those forces equivalent to US county sheriff departments), Nova Scotia regional municipalities are "single tier," handling all of the municipal services for a large area.[4] Not every regional police force in Nova Scotia serves a regional municipality, however — the New Glasgow Regional Police Service serves two towns in Pictou County, New Glasgow and Trenton.[5] Some police forces in Ontario — such as the Toronto Police Service, Ottawa Police Service, and Greater Sudbury Police Service — had originally been regional police services, but ceased to function as true regional police agencies after the regional municipalities that they served were amalgamated into single-tier cities.

The adoption of regional policing in Canada has been controversial. A 2016 review of nine mid-sized and large Canadian police services found no significant differences existed in cost or service quality between regional and non-regional police forces,[6] and a literature review in 2015 found that larger police services are less effective and more expensive compared to mid-sized forces.[7]

List of regional police services

United States

Nevada

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Through the formation of a "police district" under the control of a Police Commission, some municipalities in Pennsylvania have found that improved and more professional police services could be obtained through inter-governmental cooperation. Having one police department covering two or more neighboring communities, rather than separate police departments, allows each municipality to enjoy the benefits of a larger department, such as specialized units and a professional staff.[20]

Tennessee

See also

References

  1. ^ "B.C. supports possible merger of cities, police forces on Vancouver Island". CBC News. Retrieved 2022-07-04.
  2. ^ Manuel, Arthur; Derrickson, Ronald M. (2015-04-30). Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-up Call. Toronto: Between the Lines. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9781771131773. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Lifecycle of First Nation Administered Police Services in Canada". Public Safety Canada. 21 December 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  4. ^ "How council landed on the new name West Hants Regional Municipality". Saltwire. Retrieved 2022-07-04.
  5. ^ a b "Regional Police". Town of New Glasgow. Retrieved 2022-07-04.
  6. ^ "Amalgamation of Police Services". Public Safety Canada. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 2022-07-04.
  7. ^ "A Literature Review on the Amalgamation of Police Services in Canada". Public Safety Canada. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 2022-07-04.
  8. ^ "Anishinabek Police Services – Kettle & Stony Point Detachment". Kettle & Stony Point First Nation. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  9. ^ "About us". BNPP Regional Police. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  10. ^ "Tsawwassen First Nation Service Team". Delta Police Department. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  11. ^ "West Division". Durham Regional Police Service. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  12. ^ "Eeyou Eenou Police Force". Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) / Cree Nation. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  13. ^ "History". Kennebecasis Regional Police Force. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  14. ^ "About Lakeshore Regional Police Service". Lakeshore Regional Police Service. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  15. ^ "History". Manitoba First Nations Police. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  16. ^ "History". Niagara Regional Police Service. 4 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  17. ^ "The Nishnawbe Aski Police Service". Nishnawbe Aski Police Service. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  18. ^ "Who we are". Treaty Three Police Service. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  19. ^ "Organization". Vancouver Police Department. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  20. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2015-02-02.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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