There are 15 Kingston Police officers currently on long-term leave, leading to yearly increases in the police overtime budget.
It could also lead to officer burnout, says Police Chief Antje McNeely.
McNeely’s proposal, which was unveiled at the Police Services Board meeting Thursday, is to hire 10 police recruits by January 2020, boosting the $38 million Police Budget by an extra 4.5 per cent or $1,748,241.
“Really this is an operational decision here, needing to have 10 officers to get us up to authorized strength. We’ll still be short 5 but I think we can manage that, so that’s why I believe 10 was a fair ask,” McNeely told Global News.
While sympathetic to the rank and file shortage, Mayor Bryan Paterson says City Hall is also struggling to keep property taxes down and doesn’t want the police budget to go higher than 2.5 per cent next year.
The board wants the chief to come back with a hiring plan closer to the 2.5 per cent increase.
“I do think that we need to increase our staffing levels but I’m looking for something that’s a compromise, where we could perhaps increase our staffing and look for other efficiencies to try and keep our cost down,” Paterson said.
The chief says finding efficiencies is a big challenge.
Investigations like last month’s street stabbing in the downtown and off-campus street parties are pushing up overtime costs.
She also talked about short-staffing with criminal investigations and the drug unit.
“We know that we have pressures with the municipality too, but we need to talk about this, thoroughly and openly and then really see what we can do with efficiencies,” McNeely said
A special Police Services Board meeting will be scheduled in the coming weeks to reopen the hiring discussion with a budget increase closer to 2.5 per cent. City Council opens budget talks next month.
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