N.B. RCMP add 51 frontline officers, but one mayor is disappointed by allocation

The New Brunswick RCMP are adding 51 new officers to the province following an increased budget for the provincial police force.

It will mean an increased number of officers in specific regional service commissions, while others won’t get any. RCS 10, which is home to some of Charlotte County, Grand Manan, St. Stephen, and McAdam, will only get one officer, while RSC 11 will get 15.

McAdam mayor Ken Stannix said the community and the RSC was disappointed to only get one additional officer. The community faced a wave of petty crime and alleged lack of response by the RCMP to theft in the community.

In fact, one of its residents was charged after committing vigilantism.

But Stannix said the community is seeing some respite since then, adding the RCMP have opened a line of communication with the municipalities it is responsible for.

“There has been an improvement in the communication between the RCMP and the municipalities,” he said in an interview. “I like the fact they are notifying us as to when charges are being laid, against whom, and what the result of those charges are.”

He said the issue isn’t simply just more officers, though, but an often overwhelmed criminal justice system that cannot handle the number of people being incarcerated.

Stannix said the issue is societal and he would like to see a task force put together to tackle both the on-the-ground issues, the criminal justice system, and supports required to lift people out of poverty and the issues driving people to commit crimes out of necessity.

“This is not just a lack of policing, it is a societal issue, and we as a society need to tackle this issue from front to back,” he said.

The RCMP allocation

Cpl. Hans Ouellette said the NB RCMP are pleased to receive more funding from the province to hire 51 more officers. It will mean more coverage across the province, including in specialized police services.

There will be new positions and resources in the Child Exploitation Unit, the Digital Forensic Services, the Explosive Devices Unit, the Emergency Response Team, the Police Dog Services, the Operational Communications Centre, and the Major Crime Unit.

Ouellette said the allocation of officers was based on several factors, including the cop-to-population ratio, which is one police officer per 1,000 people.

It was also based on geography, he explained, with some areas having more geography to cover than others.

“Other things we considered was the file workload that the members had to deal with at the those RSCs, or those districts or detachments,” he said in an interview by phone. “The different types of crime and crime severity happening in those specific locations as well as the impact of location governance reform.”

Local governance reform meant the RCMP lost jurisdiction to municipal police or gained it by taking on unincorporated areas. Ouellette said it was about increasing equity in the province.

“The reality is what we wanted to do is bring the whole province and all of the areas, and the RSCs to an equitable spot, and we noticed a lot of our RSCs are lacking … and really our target was to bring the cop to pop as close to or over the one-point-zero,” he said.

RSC 10 has the highest cop to pop ratio of all of them.

Ouellette said the RCMP continues to struggle with recruitment issues, as all police forces both in New Brunswick, and the country are vying for the same pool of candidates.

The RCMP is undergoing an intensive recruiting process.

“It is top of mind for the RCMP,” he said.

In a statement, the Department of Justice said they “committed to strengthening our communities and making them safer for New Brunswickers.”

“The RCMP is responsible for the deployment of police officers and they have done an excellent job of placing the new officers where they are most needed,” it said.