Yes, it is. It is community-based policing, but community-based policing, as you're aware, is delivered in different ways. We call ours our community response model, where we go out and work with communities. We have officers who specialize in partnerships with government, non-governmental agencies, and community groups and tenants' associations. We do all of that.
I've worked very closely with the OPP for over 39 years. The OPP was the agency that actually helped my department get into wiretapping and climbing poles in those early days, and the many things we do.
When you say we just quickly ask the federal government to do everything, we're talking about organized crime here today and organized crime is not just a local issue. It crosses borders, it crosses provinces, it crosses countries, it crosses the world.
There are some things that are just beyond the Halifax Regional Police or just beyond the OPP. I've worked with Commissioner Fantino. We're on the phone together monthly. There are some things that have to be, I believe, nationally approached or nationally coordinated, and that's why I believe we have the federal force, and that's why I believe the stronger they can be, the better it is for our country.
So witness protection is not something HRM can do. Can we be asked to contribute towards a national fund? Yes. Can we be asked to have municipal-provincial-federal partnerships? When I say a funded program, this has been discussed at Ottawa with the RCMP, and actually the RCMP in the past have been very supportive in trying to do something.
Technology is beyond any local municipality to be able to deal with. We need a federal approach to dealing with these types of issues. I've got a very good system for doing what I need to do, but it's hard to keep it current and it's expensive to keep it current.