County of Grande Prairie officials are optimistic about a meeting with the province as they continue their push for a rural RCMP detachment in Clairmont.
In December, Reeve Leanne Beaupre says they started a conversation with the RCMP on building a stand-alone police detachment in the hamlet, with potential plans to bring other local policing jurisdictions under the same roof, like from the Municipal District of Greenview, and the Town of Sexsmith.
Beaupre says the county now hopes to meet with Justice Minister Kaycee Madu to keep momentum on the potential project going.
“With the recent discussion by the province of a provincial police force, we really are looking for some sort of commitment from the province,” she says.
“If we move forward with building a facility to house provincial or RCMP in the Hamlet of Clairmont that the province will commit to making sure they use that building.”
She says council continues to hear concerns from residents across the region when it comes to an influx of rural crime and believes this is going to go a long way in achieving progress, especially when it comes to waiting times.
“As the city gets bigger, it takes longer to get out from the city, and at the moment, the rural detachment is part of the larger Grande Prairie detachment,” she adds.
No details as to when the meeting is expected to take place have been made public.