SASKATOON – Saskatoon police are hoping to take on crime with more money and more officers. Keeping up with a growing city’s demands was the focus of the Board of Police Commissioners meeting, where the preliminary budget for 2016 was presented.
“We’re growing at 20 people a day, every day of the week. As a matter of fact, we’ve grown over 90,000 people over the last 15 years,” said Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison.
Part of the proposed budget increase includes a request for another eight patrol officers.
The city has been given three options for hiring the officers. It could hire all eight officers in January at a cost of over $600,000. It could also employ four in January and four in August, for $450,000 with some costs carrying over to 2017. Or they could hire eight officers in August, which would cost over $300,000.
“We’ve got a lot more people that are homeless. We’re dealing with mental health and substance abuse. We never saw that in Saskatoon before,” said Chief Clive Weighill.
The board voted in favour of proposing $3.8 million more than last year to keep city streets safe. Most of that money would go towards wage increases.
READ MORE: City of Saskatoon wants public input on upcoming budget
Other initiatives for 2016 include fighting street crimes, reducing traffic collisions and helping people who suffer from mental illness.
“Everyone wants police services. People say, ‘But it costs so much.’ But by the same token, I think most people would vote for safety and security,” said Atchison.
If approved, the overall budget would be around $84 million. City council will begin deliberations in late November.
Watch below: More money to hire more officers, shootings in the city and a proposed centre of responsibility were part of Lisa’s monthly discussion with Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill.
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