Sunshine Coast RCMP’s acting detachment commander painted a picture of an under-resourced department dealing with more complex calls in an appeal to Sechelt council to fund more staff – even as the cost of living remains a barrier to recruitment.
Sgt. Don Newman presented his case for the need during a March 10 District of Sechelt committee-of-the-whole meeting, requesting one regular member for 2021, as well as a civilian position and another police officer by 2023.
Thirty-five police officers are employed on the Sunshine Coast, 11 of which are funded by the District of Sechelt. The last municipal increase was in 2009 and the last provincial increase came in 2007.
More people are visiting the Coast year-round and personal offences in Sechelt have roughly doubled since 2017, with marked increases in break-and-enters, theft and mischief.
But the most considerable change is the 100 per cent increase in files related to mental health.
While that’s substantial growth, said Newman, “the calls we go to that relate to mental health are actually significantly higher,” since statistics don’t capture all the data because of the way some calls are categorized.
For mental health checks, two officers must attend the call, which is a new change further taxing resources, he said.
Calls for service rates for the Sunshine Coast since 2018 are comparable to Surrey, Squamish and Richmond.
At least one councillor was startled by a statistic showing how few officers there are per person on the Coast.
The population to officer ratio on the coast stands above the provincial detachment average, said Newman, and is worse when looking solely at the population of Sechelt. “We are significantly higher than almost every other municipality,” he said.
Coun. Brenda Rowe called the comparison “staggering.”
Adding to the demand on officers are recent court decisions that require more administrative work, as well as the geographic isolation and the 80 kilometres of highway to cover, Newman said.
The requested civilian position would help organize and run community programs such as Block Watch, Speed Watch and Citizens on Patrol. “There’s no question there has been a gap,” said Newman.
Coun. Matt McLean asked why the member request for this year was for the General Investigation Section.
The detachment is short in that section, replied Newman, adding they want a full-time mental health liaison to be more proactive, which they hope will reduce calls for service, and the new position would free up resources to do that.
“Issues like mental health, homelessness, the opiate crisis – when we tackle that proactively and can stop those 911 calls and non-emergency calls, that’s what our goal is,” he said.
The district has added $149,921 to cover the amount needed to fund the general investigation position, though financial services director David Douglas said because hiring probably wouldn’t happen until later in the year, the budget would be adjusted to reflect that, with the full amount added next year.
Rowe asked whether a barrier to recruitment is related to the population to officer ratio, but Newman said housing is the real obstacle.
“The single biggest deterrent to recruiting is the cost of living,” he said, especially for experienced members, who have more choice about where they’re located.
The overall budget to cover RCMP costs heading into 2021, paid for out of taxation, is $2.3 million.
Siegers noted a new provincial grant called “Strengthening Community Services” is now available for up to $450,000, and could be used to over the civilian position.
Newman said a request has also been put forward for provincial members.
