A community safety program that used to have as many as 17 auxiliary police officers in Merritt currently doesn’t have a single member, but city leaders would like to see the program revived.

The RCMP’s volunteer auxiliary officer program is under national review, and while Merritt’s program currently has no members, the city would like to see its program revived.

Members of city council’s police committee recently met with RCMP Staff Sgt. Sheila White to discuss a set of questions from the Union of B.C. Municipalities asking for feedback on the program by May 10.

Merritt Mayor Neil Menard said that they decided the program was something they want to keep in Merritt and bring in members again if possible.

Coun. Diana Norgaard said that the benefit of having auxiliary members was they increased Merritt’s police presence in the downtown.

“I know that right now there’s nobody currently volunteering in the program, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen in the future,” Norgaard said.

She said the feedback will be forwarded to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. This feedback is being incorporated into the review of the program, said White.

While the city wants the program to remain, changes are already in the works that limit the role of auxiliary officers, including ending ride-alongs with RCMP members, no longer having firearms training and the consideration of having auxiliary constables wear a more distinguishable uniform from regular members.

The review was prompted by the fatal shooting of Canadian soldier Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa in 2014 and the fatal shooting of RCMP Const. David Wynn and wounding of auxiliary Const. Derek Bond at a St. Albert casino last January.

“One of the difficulties with the new proposed policy — and it is policy right now — is auxiliary police can’t do ride-alongs anymore and they have to be directly supervised by [an RCMP] member,” Norgaard said, noting that means an auxiliary couldn’t conduct a foot patrol on his or her own. [That] kind of makes it hard to recruit, I mean it doesn’t make sense.”

Graeme Beverley, a physiotherapist at the Nicola Valley Hospital, was the last of the auxiliary officers in Merritt. He volunteered with the program for 28 years and retired this past January.

He said he thinks it’s hard to tell whether or not these changes will make the program obsolete.

“It may be that re-inventing it in a different way is more useful. It’s hard to know,” Beverley said.

Years ago, auxiliary officers carried firearms, and when that was ended, the program changed quite a bit, White said.

“It’s constantly going [through] transition, either trying to improve it or make changes so that auxiliaries and the community are safe. This is another transitional period,” White said.

The RCMP auxiliary officer program in Merritt conducted duties such as traffic stops, bar walks, foot and bike patrols and speed watches.

It also has a community education and awareness component, which Beverley thinks will become more of the focus of the program.

“The focus was more on the ride-along previously,” he said.

When ride-alongs were allowed, auxiliary officers acted as  an extra set of eyes and ears for police, Beverley said. He said RCMP ride-alongs had to end given liability and insurance concerns. There were a total of four auxiliary officers serving Merritt dating back only to 2012, said White. Beverley said that he was the lone auxiliary in town for the last couple years.

At one point during his years of volunteering, Merritt had 17 auxiliary officers, said Beverley.

“A lot of people left when the guns were withdrawn,” he said.

It’s tough to recruit for the auxiliary program because you have to do 160 hours of volunteer work per year, said Beverley.

White said the auxiliary program is invaluable.

“Quite often because it’s members from the community that stay here — police officers come and go [and] get transferred in and out — the auxiliaries know many of the locals, the local areas so we usually hook up an auxiliary with a new member,” White said.

There are about 1,600 auxiliary officers across Canada.