Additional 8 Saskatoon police officers approved during city budget talks

City council began the first of three days of 2020-21 budget talks on Monday by discussing the requirements of the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS).

Councillors approved eight new officers for 2020.

The eight officers are in addition to the three already scheduled to be hired in 2020. This brings the total number of new constables in the next two years to 15, with four more to be hired in 2021.

Police Chief Troy Cooper said the eight new officers will be needed to patrol the area around the upcoming supervised injection site.

Cooper said the new opening of the site would be delayed to wait for the new officers.

“We know that we have a very good partnership with the supervised consumption staff,” Cooper said.

“And it’s likely that they’ll be able to delay their opening until the community is ready to have that. We expect to see that in April or May of next year.”

He also said the new officers are needed because the current officers are exhausted.

“We just haven’t kept pace with increasing police resources and this is a good step forward. I think it’s an opportunity for us now to address, I think more appropriately, the calls that we’re seeing coming in,” Cooper said.

Saskatoon’s proposed budget originally required a property tax increase of 3.23 per cent for 2020 and 3.54 per cent for 2021 — just under seven per cent total.

City administration told council that the increases were reduced to 3.14 per cent and 3.52 per cent, respectively, because the original calculation did not incorporate the new residents in the city. New residents increase the city’s revenue.

The city can afford the new officers with the increased revenue and the tax rates are not expected to rise from the new figures.

Budget talks are scheduled to end on Wednesday.​