On and on it goes - the debate over whether Metro Vancouver should have a regional police force.

It won't happen any time soon, since most mayors want to keep the status quo, and the province has said it won't impose such a force.

So while public opinion is in favour - 57 per cent of Metro Vancouver residents support a regional force, according to a recent Angus Reid poll - there's no political will to make it happen.

Here in the Tri-Cities, a recent meeting of mayors to discuss the issue resulted in three different positions.

PoCo Mayor Greg Moore seems the most open to the idea of a regional force, saying he hasn't made up his mind either way.

Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay, meanwhile, has a different view. He believes a Port Moody-only force offers better service for residents - who pay a premium for it. He may be right about that, but criminals don't respect municipal boundaries, so a collection of local forces and detachments doesn't offer the best service to the region as a whole.

Finally, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart is worried a regional force would see the suburbs "subsidize Vancouver for its high police costs." But Vancouver clearly subsidizes the suburbs by having to foot the bill for major events that draw people from across the Lower Mainland - most of the hockey rioters, after all, were from Surrey.

So whether it's keeping costs low for residents - which, yes, is the job of a mayor, even if it's plain to see the suburbs are taking advantage of the situation - or keeping a local feel, mayors have their reasons for wanting to stick with the status quo.

The problem is, as the Wally Oppal commission pointed out, Robert Pickton would likely have been caught much sooner if Metro Vancouver didn't have a patchwork collection of police forces refusing to share information.

Yes, the lines of communication may have opened as a result of the Pickton case - as mayors like to point out - but they're probably not as open as they would be with a regional force.

So we'll continue with the status quo - and hope another predator like Pickton isn't able to exploit the current divisions in policing. Wouldn't that be a horrible debate to have?