FALL RIVER: A promised RCMP community policing office in Fall River is now in doubt, with the force telling the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners it cannot financially support a physical office in the community at this time.
The announcement, made at the board’s Monday, Oct. 19 meeting, has disappointed local councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon, who said she intends to push for the RCMP to return to its original commitment.
“This is very, very disappointing,” Deagle Gammon told The Laker News in an interview Tuesday during a break at regional council. She attended Monday’s meeting in the public gallery.
“I would say that this is not the end of the story at all, and that I will be advocating for the RCMP to finally come back to their original commitment.”
In 2025, 12 officers — six for each community office — were hired for Fall River and the Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea (BLT) area.
The locations were pitched as community policing offices to improve police visibility and better respond to local needs in growing areas.
But at Monday’s meeting, RCMP officials said they could not financially support a physical office in Fall River at this time, while the proposed Timberlea location was being pursued as a pilot project.
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The announcement left Board of Police Commissioners chair Greg O’Malley disappointed, along with Deagle Gammon, who said the decision did not reflect the commitment made when the additional officers were approved.
“It was not the commitment that was made,” she said. “The approval for the additional officers was based on having a community office.”
Deagle Gammon said the six officers assigned to Fall River are still working in the community and doing good work, but she believes having a dedicated location is an essential part of the original plan.
“We do have the six officers in our community and they’re doing great work. But that’s only half of the equation. And the other half is the community office. We need to get that back.”
According to an HRM staff report, the Fall River officers are working out of the Lower Sackville RCMP detachment and responding to calls in the area. The team assigned to the Timberlea area is based out of the Upper Tantallon detachment.
Deagle Gammon said the latest announcement does not change the current policing coverage for Fall River. Rather, the concern is that residents will not get the physical community office they were told was coming.
“The only thing in terms of the impact is there’s a commitment made to the community that we would have a community office that our officers will be given in Fall River,” she said.
“They would have a place to do their work. And so, instead of coming from [the] full detachment, they would be fully present in our community.”
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Deagle Gammon said she has not yet received further information about the RCMP’s decision since Monday’s meeting.
She also pointed to information presented during the meeting indicating that discussions about the Fall River office were ongoing, suggesting the door may not be completely closed.
“One of the slides that was even in their slide deck said that there was ongoing conversations for the Fall River community office,” she said.
The change in direction concerning the BLT office was another surprise, Deagle Gammon added. She said the RCMP indicated that the office, which was approved alongside Fall River’s, was now being considered a pilot project as a result of an internal decision.
She believes the force needs to revisit the history behind both proposals and the commitments made to the communities.
“I think that really there are new people and many people within the RCMP, and they need to go back and they need to revisit the history of the community and what was said and realize that they need to come back and they need to come back to their original commitment,” she said.
If the RCMP does not reverse its position, Deagle Gammon said she would consider taking the matter to the provincial government.
“I’m not so sure,” she said when asked what could happen if the force refuses to reinstate the commitment. “I think then it becomes more of a political conversation.”
She said she would approach the Minister of Justice and advocate for the province to investigate the matter and consider how it could intervene.
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The proposed Fall River office followed community concerns about police visibility, traffic safety and the need for a more local RCMP presence.
At a community consultation in October 2025, RCMP officials outlined plans for an office staffed by six officers, with priorities expected to include traffic enforcement, youth outreach and local crime reduction. The force said the office would help strengthen relationships with residents and businesses.
Deagle Gammon said the community policing model is not unique to Fall River and has been promoted nationally as a way to deliver policing services.
“When you look at all of the reports on policing that we have looked at in Nova Scotia over the last year and a half, two years, I think that every report speaks to the community policing model as a way of policing for the future,” she said.
For now, the six officers continue to respond to calls in the Fall River area, but the future of a dedicated physical office remains uncertain.
Deagle Gammon said she intends to keep pressing for the RCMP to honour the original commitment, arguing that having officers assigned to the community is only part of the plan residents were promised.
