Edmonton’s mayor is asking the city’s police service to go back to the drawing board when it comes to what it’s asking for in order to police newly annexed land from Leduc County.
“I think we got a bit of sticker shock frankly,” Don Iveson said on Monday. “We know there will be a resource implication, we just asked them to do a bit more work to make the case for a rational ask for resources for the annexation area.”
The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) has asked city council for an additional 25 positions, at a cost of $4.3 million, to increase its number of officers so it can handle the annexation of thousands of hectares of land from Leduc County.
READ MORE: Knecht wants 25 more Edmonton police officers to cover off annexed Leduc County land
Supt. Chad Tawfik presented a report to council showing what the police service would need to keep up its standards. Currently, the EPS strives to respond to calls in under seven minutes, 80 per cent of the time.
The police service pitched its proposal to the Community and Public Services Committee in a presentation on Monday.
Tawfik said 20 officers are needed for the two growing divisions in southeast and southwest Edmonton to maintain current response times. Another three members are needed to handle growing tactical needs and two more are necessary to help patrol Highway 19.
The two new areas of land that EPS will be tasked with policing, works out to more than 80 km².
“Our ability to respond to an emergency call for service in a timely manner will be impacted by this geography,” Tawfik said adding it would put more stress on both the southeast and southwest divisions. “”As soon as we have to respond to one area, that leaves another area that is a gap.”
Iveson wants the service to consider lowering its standards for rural areas.
“It wouldn’t be what folks in the annexation area would experience or expect from RCMP today,” Iveson said. “To try to rise to that seven-minute response time requires quite a phenomenal number of resources.”
“We’re actually kind of behind the eight-ball because it takes about nine months to recruit, hire and train a sworn police officer,” Tawfik said. “So that’s why we’re coming forward to say, ‘This is what we need to get this in place.'”
In the meantime, Leduc County and the City of Edmonton are waiting on approval of the annexation agreement. A firm date for when the EPS would begin serving the new areas has yet to be decided.
-With files from 630 CHED’s Scott Johnston
READ MORE: Edmonton and Leduc County sign annexation agreement
Watch below: On June 30, 2017, Vinesh Pratap filed this report after a deal was made for Edmonton to annex thousands of hectares of land from Leduc County.