From funding to results: Impact of police funding model
Last week, the Alberta Municipalities (ABmunis) Board met with senior RCMP leadership at K Division Headquarters in Edmonton. A highlight of the visit was a tour of the Real Time Operations Centre (RTOC), a first-of-its-kind facility in Canada that is transforming how RCMP officers respond to critical incidents across the province.
Operating 24/7, the RTOC serves as a centralized hub where multiple streams of information—911 calls, live surveillance feeds, incident reports, and open-source intelligence—are brought together and analyzed in real time. From a room lined with massive screens, a specialized team coordinates response efforts, tracks suspects, and supports officers on the ground with actionable intelligence. Whether responding to emergencies in urban centres or remote rural areas, the RTOC enables faster, more informed decision-making in high-pressure situations.
The RTOC was made possible through funding generated by Alberta’s police funding model. Municipalities with populations under 5,000 who pay into the model justifiably want to know how these funds are being used. The RTOC is a tangible example of how investments enabled by the police funding model are enhancing operational support and public safety across the province.
During the tour, Board members saw how advanced tools, including GPS tracking, live video, and the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), allow frontline officers to access the same real-time information as the team in the centre directly from their mobile devices. Features such as emergency “panic buttons” on officers’ body cameras further enhance safety by instantly alerting the RTOC and pinpointing an officer’s location when urgent support is needed.
The tour also underscored the RTOC’s strong emphasis on collaboration. The centre regularly works alongside municipal police services, Alberta Sheriffs, and other agencies, ensuring a coordinated response when incidents cross jurisdictions or escalate in complexity. In 2024 alone, the RTOC supported more than 15,000 calls, demonstrating its value as a critical public safety asset.
In addition to the tour, the ABmunis Board and RCMP leadership talked about municipal policing priorities. We believe there is an opportunity for ABmunis, the RCMP, and the province to share more information with municipalities and the public about how police funding is allocated. Additionally, ABmunis wants to ensure our members have strong relationships with their local detachments, working together to identify public safety priorities in their communities. ABmunis always takes the opportunity to emphasize “no pay without say.” The ABmunis Board also highlighted the financial strain municipalities are facing due to cumulative cost pressures, including policing, as highlighted in our Property Taxes Reimagined (PRT) initiative.
Stay tuned for more resources on PTR and policing over the coming months. In the meantime, municipalities under 5,000 can use our brochure to help explain how rising policing costs are contributing to property tax pressures.
To learn more about the RTOC, check out the RCMP’s videos on Facebook and YouTube.
