WHEREAS crime in rural areas is currently a focus in the Province of Saskatchewan, with the Province having created the Caucus Committee on Crime Reduction to investigate and determine potential solutions; and

WHEREAS municipalities in Saskatchewan have the legislated ability to create municipal police forces and/or employ Community Safety Officers within The Police Act to provide supplementary law enforcement resources; and

WHEREAS with the exception of the Cities of Regina and Saskatoon, provincial statute offenses written by municipal police forces and/or Community Safety Officers are subject to retention of 25% of fine revenue by the Province under section 19 of The Summary Offenses Procedure Regulations, 1991 for the purpose of administering summary offence proceedings and enforcing payment of fines; and

WHEREAS the Cities of Regina and Saskatoon pay a flat rate annually for the provision of the same service, amounting to approximately 4% of annual fine revenues for those communities; and

WHEREAS more proportionate fine revenue retention legislation for municipalities would keep more resources within rural communities for crime prevention and provision of law enforcement services;

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby the Province of Saskatchewan to modify section 19 of The Summary Offenses Procedure Regulations, 1991 for a 10% fine retention policy for all municipalities in the Province, excluding the Cities of Regina and Saskatoon.