By Taylor MacPherson

P.A. Police chief pleased with increased budget

Nov 28, 2016 | 4:00 PM

Prince Albert Police Chief Troy Cooper said his department is very happy to see an increase in their budget over last year, which will allow for the hiring of more front line and support staff.

This year’s police budget will increase by $1,177,550 over 2016, pending approval by council at the Dec. 19 meeting. Members of the budget committee said they worked hard to find savings elsewhere in order to approve the increased police spending, after Mayor Greg Dionne called safety “the number one issue” in P.A.

“The actual growth to our budget is around $280,000 for 2017,” Cooper said, noting the majority of the increase will be used for growing maintenance costs and increased salaries.

Cooper said the budget bump will allow for the hiring of a new patrol officer, who will be starting work in January.

“We haven’t had an increase in our front line response for about three decades,” Cooper said. “Although we have increased the size of the police service over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve seen those increases in specialized units.”

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Cooper said the increased funding will also allow P.A. Police to hire a traffic-enforcement constable, a community safety officer, and additional IT staff.

“That will allow us to free up officers to do more traditional police roles,” Cooper said, noting that due to lack of staff patrol officers currently perform technical duties such as picking up copies of security footage when shoplifting occurs.

The bump in funding will also allow P.A. Police to purchase a dedicated vehicle for the Victim Services Unit, which will be used to follow up with victims of crime, transport people to court dates, and liaise with the families of missing persons.

More details of each new initiative are expected to be released in coming months.

Cooper said the newly-elected council seemed to be “well-aligned” with the goals of the police board, and listening closely to the needs of the public.

“Overall we’re very pleased with the budget,” Cooper said.

According to Cooper, increased staff and funding will give the P.A. Police better tools to deal with the rise in crystal meth which has been plaguing the city.

“Right now what we’re looking at is a trend towards an increase in drug use in the city,” Cooper said. “Specifically the drug crystal meth. That’s been driving our violent crime, and it’s been driving drug use and weapons-related offenses.”

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

@TMacPhersonNews