RCMP Quarterly Report To Lunenburg Council Marked Confidential For First Time, Prompts Questions About Public Access

A quarterly RCMP report to Lunenburg Town Council was marked confidential in December, raising questions about public access to policing statistics that had been previously available.

The RCMP is expected to present to Town of Lunenburg Council quarterly with a report detailing district resources and statistics on calls for service. 

During the Dec. 10 Council meeting, Corporal Gordon Giffin appeared for the RCMP’s first appearance since February, but the meeting’s agenda package was missing the usual public policing statistics.

Mayor Jamie Myra asked Giffin, “Could you, sort of, take out the parts that aren’t confidential and make, like, a public report for us, so we could put in our minutes, so the public could know just some of your basic stuff?”

Giffin replied that he has sought clarification to have the “confidential” status of the report removed, or “what portion of the report I would have to remove myself to make it that it was open to the public.”

Giffin said, “I come from a criminal intelligence background, so for me, any numbers that relate directly to the overall number of members and where they exactly work is concerning for me, for the criminal side of the report.”

The last public quarterly RCMP report in a Council agenda, in February 2024, listed the number of police resources that work out of the three Lunenburg District RCMP detachments.

The personnel listed were: 1 Staff Sergeant, 2 Sergeants, 6 Corporals, 34 Constables, 1 Reserve Constable, 7 Administrative Staff, a Crime Analyst and a Senior Safety Coordinator.

While the full report remains confidential, Giffin shared select statistics, noting 2,447 calls for service across all of Lunenburg County during summer 2024. 

Council raised questions to Giffin about road safety, with Deputy Mayor Rachel Bailey citing speeding complaints received during the recent municipal election campaign. 

Mayor Jamie Myra praised Giffin’s assistance during his election campaign, citing his responsiveness to traffic complaints. “In fact, if I said, like, ‘Maple Avenue has a lot of speeding,’ the next morning, you’d come in and tell me you were there for two hours that morning doing, like, a radar check, so. You know,” said Myra.

The detachment has recently added three new members, which Giffin suggested could help address traffic concerns. Giffin said: “I’m hoping with our new number of members, and the fact that they’re young members who want to be active in the community and out there in the car, that we’re going to see a reduction in some of the traffic complaints.”

Council unanimously passed Councillor Bailey’s motion to have Town staff “work with the RCMP to make recommendations with regard to speed in residential areas of Lunenburg.” 

The Barnacle emailed the RCMP asking why the quarterly report was submitted to Council as confidential when it was previously public. 

Public Information Officer Cpl. Carlie McCann replied, saying, “A public version of the Policing Report has been provided to the Town of Lunenburg this morning. You are welcome to reach out to the Town for more information about requesting the Report.”

The Barnacle has requested a copy of this report from the Town of Lunenburg.

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