$12 million needed to beef up 91大黄鸭 RCMP: report

A report given to city council on Monday calls for an additional 56 officers and 28 civilian positions within the 91大黄鸭 RCMP detachment by 2025 to combat understaffing and high case-loads.

The added personnel would cost the city over $12 million.

Curt Taylor Griffiths and Nahanni Pollard, two criminology professors from Simon Fraser University and Douglas College respectively, put together the in-depth, third-party resource review for the City of 91大黄鸭, stating many of the 91大黄鸭 RCMP鈥檚 shortcomings are due to understaffing.

The 2012 Prosser Report, which also looked at police resources in the city, came to a similar conclusion, resulting in the city adding 40 officers since that time. It has been seven years since that report and according to Griffiths, it鈥檚 time to take another look.

鈥淎 lot of things have happened in seven years,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he difficulty with the Prosser report is that it kind of took place in a vacuum. It wasn鈥檛 really clear how what was being recommended fit with everything else 鈥� Without getting into a detailed critique of his methodology 鈥� it was pretty narrow.鈥�

According to the new report, due to understaffing, 91大黄鸭鈥檚 RCMP officers are often left with little-to-no proactive time to combat issues before they happen.

Within the 91大黄鸭 RCMP, members often carry 66 files on average, more than double that of municipal RCMP members in other cities who carry an average of 32 files per officer, according to Griffiths.

鈥淚n 91大黄鸭, you have general duty members, somebody who may be a year or two out of depot, carrying 45 files,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hat is an outlier, even for the RCMP. In discussions with detachments and commanders in the Lower Mainland, they say 32 max 鈥� maybe 25. Any more than that and you鈥檙e running into trouble.鈥�

The cause of this, Griffiths said, is understaffed investigative units are handing down files to general duty officers.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got this cascading effect going on where your general duty members are carrying not only a high number of files but the types of files they鈥檙e carrying are very problematic,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e also carrying files over $100,000. That is not seen in RCMP detachments across the country.鈥�

The issue results in overworked officers and civilian staff who can face issues with work/life balance and mental health, according to Griffiths.

鈥淥fficers are not picking up their phones when they鈥檙e called to come in to do overtime,鈥� he said.

鈥淲hy? Number one, they鈥檙e burned out; and number two, as one officer told me, 鈥業f I take an overtime shift, I get another five more files. I鈥檝e already got 40. I can鈥檛 do it鈥欌€�

Griffiths added this affects officers鈥� performance on the job, their family and their career.

Coun. Gail Given expressed concern with the impact this would have on taxpayers.

鈥淲e need to move somewhere into the future that has more staff,鈥� she said.

鈥淚f we just dropped all of these people tomorrow 鈥� what kind of a tax impact would that be? Obviously, we can鈥檛 do that all in one year. Whatever the number would be, it would be untenable from our taxpayers鈥� perspective.鈥�

Mayor Colin Basran asked if the proposed additions would catch the city up to staffing numbers it should currently have or if it takes into account the city鈥檚 growth over the coming years.

Griffiths replied, saying that it depends on what provincial initiatives are implemented in 91大黄鸭 by organizations such as BC Housing.

鈥淚f the province doesn鈥檛 come to the table, you鈥檙e going to end up spending more and more resources, which are a consequence of addicted and mentally ill people,鈥� he said.

鈥淸Those issues] are driving a lot of demands for service in this community. Adequately staffing your shifts, just to respond to people who should be having their issues adressed by the province, is not going to get you very far.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a two-pronged approach. You need to get your staffing up to a level where your officers can have some proactive time 鈥� and then have your officers participate in collaborative partnerships.鈥�

Basran said the city has laid out a plan that he believes makes it easy for the province to implement initiatives that will ease the pressure on local police.

鈥淭he feedback that I get from a large portion of our residents is that if we had done this resourcing plan first and not done the housing, homelessness and supports plan 鈥� we鈥檇 be further ahead,鈥� he said.

鈥淚鈥檓 comforted by the fact that [Griffiths says] we still need to deal with those underlying issues because there are people who still believe that enforcement is the base.鈥�

Of the 56 member positions, 24 would be general duty officers, 10 would go to investigative units, six foot patrols, five school resource officers, four would go to general investigations and neighbourhood police and one would go to each of the airport, the Assertive Community Team (ACT) and the Assertive Outreach Team (AOT).

The report is not yet complete and will be given to council in full before budget deliberations take place on Dec. 12.

michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
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