The future of the policing services in Plum Coulee remains rather murky following a meeting between Rhineland municipal officials and representatives with the provincial justice department.

Officials with Rhineland Municipality had a chance recently to talk to provincial representatives about the Altona/Plum Coulee policing agreement and where that arrangement is headed.

The municipality is entering the final year of an agreement with Altona to provide police services for the community of Plum Coulee. The province has provided funding for the service, but that support will

Altona police hosted a bike rodeo for students in Plum Coulee as part of their community outreach efforts. end after 2021, according to Reeve Don Wiebe.

"We had a good discussion about that in terms of where this is going and they recognize this is a unique situation in the province that was leftover from the (municipal) amalgamation process. They were quite sympathetic to our reasoning, but again we'll have to see how the provincial police review will affect policing in Manitoba and how we fit into that part of the equation."

Wiebe says he's had a chance to consider the recommendations contained in the review but hasn't seen anything that addresses their situation directly.

"We couldn't find anything in it that particularly addressed our situation (in Plum Coulee) and an even bigger question about what policing will look like in rural Manitoba in general. It sort of outlined more of a big picture, it outlined policing directions, but we will have to wait for implementation to see what that looks like. "

Meanwhile, in those discussions with the province, Wiebe says council was assured the province will honour its agreement to provide funding for police services in Plum Coulee to the end of 2021.