Cypress County reeve says issue is not with RCMP after MLA Wright shares inaccurate story in legislature

Posted on November 20, 2025 by Ryan Dahlman

By Zoe Mason
Southern Alberta Newspapers

Cypress County Reeve Dan Hamilton says he is concerned about a lack of RCMP resources in his county after a letter he wrote to MLA Justin Wright was raised in the legislature last week. The RCMP says the account Wright and Hamilton provided of a July incident was false.

In response, Cypress County published a letter Hamilton wrote to Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis about concerns in that community regarding police presence.

“Cypress County is greatly concerned with the lack of policing in our County and the rising costs associated with declining service,” wrote Hamilton in his letter to Ellis.

In the letter dated Sept. 16, Hamilton wrote that the county had received notice it could expect a significantly reduced level of service for the following 90 days due to various absences.

Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright used a subsequent letter from Hamilton, dated Sept. 24, as ammunition for a critique of the RCMP in the legislature on Nov. 5. The Sept. 24 letter included the claim that a call for service in Cypress County went unanswered by local RCMP for 36 hours, before the response discovered an abandoned vehicle and a dead body.

Hamilton did not expand on the claim outlined in the letter, but he wants to be clear that his concerns do not amount to an attack on the RCMP.

“We do have concerns about the under-resourcing of the RCMP,” he said in an interview with Southern Alberta Newspapers on Nov. 10. “I’m an employer myself, so I understand staffing. You can’t just run out and find somebody to throw in a cruiser and go out and patrol. They’re a trained asset. So I want to stress that we are not upset with the RCMP that they can’t fill those positions.”

“Our statement is: we are charged for those positions, and Cypress County wants to know from the province – are we going to get rebated?”

“That is our whole intent in that letter. It is not to go at the RCMP for their service.”

Provincial policing in Alberta is provided through an agreement with the federal government for services of the RCMP Provincial Police Service. Historically, that service has been paid for by the provincial government, but the UCP government altered the funding model in 2020.

Hamilton says since the province introduced its new police funding model, Cypress County has paid significantly more for its policing.

The Police Funding Regulation redistributes a portion of the cost of frontline officers to the municipalities who receive the services of the Provincial Police Service Agreement administered by the RCMP. Those costs were previously covered by the provincial government.

The cost passed on to municipalities is calculated based on a formula that addresses variables like population, crime severity, shadow population and detachment location.

In a document published in January, the Rural Municipalities of Alberta criticized the police funding regulation, arguing that it is expensive, ineffective, opaque and fails to offer mechanisms for local input.

“Between 2020 and 2024, rural municipalities have paid an increasing proportion of the GOA’s share of PPSA costs, from 10 per cent in 2020 to 30 per cent in 2024,” reads the document.

“When the PFM was introduced, the GOA promised it would bolster local policing input and service levels. However, this is not the reality of the PFM for many rural municipalities.”

Hamilton says Cypress County spends close to $1 million per year under the new funding model, and is expecting costs to jump to around $1.5 million in 2026.

Previously, Hamilton says the county was required to pay for a constable under the province’s enhanced policing services contracting system, but the total cost of that service was much lower than what the county pays now.

“That service cost us $160,000 to $180,000 a year to have one constable that was patrolling our roads and taking care of our area. Since the change has been incorporated, we still have use of that person, but now we pay more and more every year. It’s consistently gone up and we do not have any more officers in place.”

The letter to Ellis requests the province revisit its formula for cost calculation to reflect lower costs during times when coverage is reduced.

Hamilton says he has yet to receive a response from the minister.

“We need to figure out a way for Cypress County to find continuous service in the area. We’re looking at no options for it, but really now we’re paying for something that we’re not receiving. So that’s why the letter is out there,” said Hamilton.

MLA Wright was advocating for Bill 4 when he referred to the Cypress County allegations in the legislature Nov. 5. Bill 4 seeks to streamline hiring for a new provincial police service.

Hamilton sent Wright a letter in September outlining a number of instances where RCMP responses were inadequate or untimely, including the incident on July 8 which the RCMP says did not occur as Wright and Hamilton described.