By Taylor MacPherson

P.A. Police ‘hold the line’ in proposed 2018 budget

Nov 2, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Prince Albert’s proposed budget includes a modest increase for the police force, but Chief Troy Cooper said the boost will mainly just balance the costs of inflation.

The city’s proposed 2018 budget includes $16,651,690 for the police service, representing an increase of 3.37 per cent over 2017 ($16,108,560). A $78,000 expenditure for a city-owned impound lot was included in the 2018 police budget this year, which Cooper said leaves the police service with a significantly smaller increase than they received in 2017: just 2.89 per cent.

“The bulk of that increase is around just basic inflationary costs for policing, including salaries and other things that are impacted over time,” Cooper told paNOW. “We tried our best to hold the line.”

Despite the modest increase, Cooper said the department will still add some new officers next year thanks to external funding. A new victim services worker will join the force, he said, and a new full-time officer will join one of the city’s highly successful combined-forces units to help fight organized crime. Without a more substantial increase, Cooper said the new members will likely be the only major additions to the force in 2018.

Cooper said his officers are often under pressure due to high workloads, and are further stretched by a large volume of complex and often-dangerous investigations. The large number of firearms recently seen in Prince Albert are a concern, he said, as firearm-related calls and the subsequent investigations require a lot of time and resources from police.

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“Right now we’re seeing issues around violent crime with firearm possession charges going up,” Cooper said. “We’re really concerned about officer safety, and making sure that we have an adequate response for community safety.”

One of the challenges facing all Canadian police forces in 2018 will be the legalization of marijuana, which the federal Liberal government has promised by July 1. Many of the associated costs are still unknown, but Cooper said it could easily result in increased spending as officers must be trained to spot drug-impaired drivers and become familiar with the new legislation and any changes to the Criminal Code.

Although 2017 saw the police service initially given a budget increase of $1.1 million, the city was forced to claw back funds from several departments after receiving roughly $2.1 million less from the province than expected. The city’s fire department was asked to find $53,820 in savings and the police were asked to find $200,000. The police service was able to find enough through strategic staffing moves to cover the claw-back, but at the time Cooper warned core services could suffer if the department’s financial situation did not improve in 2018.

Cooper said the department could lose valuable resources if they’re asked to find savings again next year, something he’ll try to make clear to the city’s budget committee before the 2018 budget is finalized. The lion’s share of police funding goes toward salaries, he said, which doesn’t leave much room for flexibility.

“About 89 per cent of the expenditure part of our budget is around salaries, wages and benefits,” Cooper said. “It doesn’t leave an awful lot of room to find savings unless we start looking at reducing resources.”

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews