Nova Scotia is making major changes to the way the RCMP serves and protects in communities across the province. Beginning in October, the province is changing the way it funds and bills the RCMP for its work in Nova Scotia. Currently, the province and municipalities pay 70 per cent of the costs for the RCMP to police in their community, while the federal government covers the other 30 per cent of the bill. For decades, the province has been paying the RCMP based on how many officers are deployed at a detachment, and municipalities are billed by the province later to cover their share of the salary costs. The province says that formula is no longer serving the communities’ needs and come October, it’s bringing in a new billing formula that will change the province’s overall policing strategy. There are currently 39 municipalities partnered with the province to hire the RCMP to police their communities. The government estimates most of those will save money under the new funding formula and says none will pay more. The per-officer funding model will now be replaced by a new formula that looks at policing data and municipal needs. This new billing method allows the province to use better data like the crime severity index to measure policing needs, along with demographics like population and geography of a municipality, as a means to determine police staffing. The province’s justice minister says the new model should provide a more consistent approach to policing from one end of the province to the other. “Our government is taking action to strengthen police services and make communities safer,” said Attorney General and Justice Minister Scott Armstrong in a news release. Under the old model, where the province and municipalities paid for the officer that was assigned to their community, it made it hard to spread out and share resources across the province, where they may have been needed most, said Armstrong. 25 new RCMP officers The province is also spending $16 million to hire 25 new RCMP officers who can be used right across the province where needed. “This significant public safety investment is a major step forward in improving policing from one end of the province to the other,” said Armstrong. “By taking on a greater share of the cost of policing, our government is supporting municipalities to reinvest in the local community safety initiatives they need to protect their communities.” The province says municipalities that save on policing costs under the new billing model must reinvest those savings into initiatives to improve public safety in their community, and the province must approve that spending. The province will also introduce a new unified police records management system so all police agencies in the province can have the same access to information. These changes all stem from a comprehensive provincial policing review that the government undertook following recommendations from the Mass Casualty Commission and the Desmond Fatality Inquiry. The review, which was released in June 2025, called for six foundational changes to improve public safety, including the new RCMP billing model for municipalities. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
