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Additional support staff on the horizon for local RCMP detachments

Members of the Bonnyville and Cold Lake RCMP detachments will be getting additional support in the near future.
RCMP

Members of the Bonnyville and Cold Lake RCMP detachments will be getting additional support in the near future.


On Wednesday, June 27, the MD of Bonnyville agreed to fund two new support staff members for the Cold Lake and Bonnyville RCMP detachments.


“Police officers are currently tasked with several duties that are administrative that they have to incorporate into their day-to-day, along with fighting crime and being dispatched to calls. They can sometimes be spread thin when it comes to dealing with their daily police duties in addition to these administrative tasks that they’re responsible for,” Sgt. Sarah Parke of the Bonnyville RCMP detachment said.


The support staff’s responsibility will be to take-on “some of these tasks that are currently spread amongst the regular members.”


“It’s to take these things off of the members plates to allow them to focus more heavily on crime reduction,” detailed Parke.


Cold Lake RCMP S/Sgt. Jeremie Landry described the role support staff play as a valuable service to local officers.


“The purpose of this request was really to come up with creative ways to get our officers out on the street more. Knowing that we aren’t receiving any more increases to our police officer establishment, we wanted to come up with an innovative way to leverage other supports that we can provide our members,” he explained.


Their goal was to get officers out of their desks and into the streets, by adding support staff to answer calls for service, assisting clients at the front counter, assisting with the records management system by inputting information and data, document preparation, assisting with court disclosure, and court preparation.


“We were looking to do something. Originally we had been looking at funding more RCMP members, but what we found out is that the province is already short-staffed on RCMP, and for us to put forward an application to purchase more, when there are other municipalities that are short as well, just didn’t seem like the right thing to do,” MD of Bonnyville Reeve Greg Sawchuk said.


This was why the MD, along with the local RCMP detachments, began brainstorming their options to help lighten the load for local members.


“We looked at what we could do locally, and we asked the RCMP for their suggestions. They came back to us with getting some help on the administration side. This is work that members are already doing, and hopefully this new staff position will free them up to get them back out and doing the hard work that they have to do to solve this rural crime issue,” noted Sawchuk.


For a detachment, the support staff plays a vital role in their day-to-day functions.


“They fill an absolutely crucial role. We couldn’t do business here without them; there just is no way. They’re extremely valuable and they support us in many different ways,” emphasized Landry. “They help ease the burden on our officers and help get us out and on the street more.”


But filling the position won’t only benefit the general duty members. Support staff also assists the General Investigation Section (GIS).


“This position would help that cause greatly, and also provide our GIS with administrative support, which they currently don’t have. This will really be a big boost for that unit, getting them on the road more, being more proactive, and continuing the great work that they’re already doing,” Landry added.


The MD of Bonnyville agreed to fund the positions up to $180,000 in total in order to cover the cost of hiring one support staff per detachment.


If council decided they didn’t want to fund the support staff after one-year, it would be up to the City of Cold Lake or the Town of Bonnyville to pick up the tab.


For the local detachments, there is no doubt the community and members will see a benefit to the additional support staff.


“I think this will be an absolutely beneficial increase to our administrative staff. Currently, we have eight support staff in Cold Lake, five municipal employees and three public service employees. Adding one will have a really positive impact and I believe the community will quickly see the positive impact it will have by some of the initiatives I want to roll out and will be able to roll out with that additional support staff on-hand,” continued Landry.

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