Okotoks RCMP is asking town council for a significant boost to its roster in the next three years.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Jim Ross said the detachment is playing catch-up to population growth and he is looking for council’s support to hire seven new officers in the next three years. He is hoping to add three RCMP officers in 2016, two RCMP officers and one municipal employee in 2017 and two RCMP officers in 2018. Currently the detachment has 22 officers.
A multi-year resource plan presented to Council on Sept. 28 showed the town population grew by 140 per cent between 2006 and 2014, but RCMP resources have increased 80 per cent.
“We need to build on our core uniform services,” said Ross.
With increased resources, he said, the detachment could possibly move to four watches and increase the number of special investigation sections.
“There are a lot of students in our community so a school resource officer might be a good thing to have, to connect with the student population and bridge that gap,” said Ross.
In addition, he said special sections could help with domestic violence calls and a growing number of calls resulting from mental health issues.
“You can see different sections in some larger detachments and larger communities and as our community continues to grow to its new projection of 80,000 these sections and services are going to be needed,” he said.
Adding members will allow the RCMP detachment to lower its current operating ratio of one officer for every 1,273 residents. The ideal would be one officer for every 1,000 people, said Ross.
According to the resource plan, adding two regular members in the New Year would reduce the ratio to 1,148 residents for every officer within the next 12 months based on an estimated population of 28,713 in 2016.
“With annexation discussions underway and water issues being resolved, the community is going to explode,” said Ross. “We’re still catching up from the past and trying to put ourselves in a proactive position so as not to be lacking in the future. We’re taking a planning approach, submitting our plans and seeing what the community wants to see from us.”
Ross said although more officers are needed, he knows council has to base its decision on community needs and the how much can be added to the Town’s budget on an annual basis.
Coun. Carrie Fischer said Okotoks has reached a point where it is necessary to evaluate the town’s growth and identify the needs of the RCMP.
“I do definitely think there’s room to catch up,” said Fischer. “I don’t think we’ve been keeping up with our growth in this area as much as we should be.”
While she said she is not comfortable committing to the second and third years included in the multi-year resource plan, Fischer said council can consider the recommendation make for 2016.
Fischer said the 1,000 residents per officer ratio is a fair target for the Okotoks RCMP, but it will be taken into consideration one year at a time.
“There are three resources being requested on the budget for 2016, which would change that ratio to about 1,150 to one,” she said. “If council agrees to that level of increase, I think we can put those in place and then reevaluate from there and see what that feels like.”
