RCMP's allocation of 51 new officers aims to equalize service across N.B.

The RCMP says it's hoping to level the policing playing field across New Brunswick as it fills 51 new front-line officer positions over the next two years.

The provincial government announced last spring it was spending $32.6 million to boost the number of RCMP officers in the province by 15 per cent.

The police force has now identified where 51 of those 81 officers will be stationed across the province's 12 regional service commission boundaries.

"When we looked at it across the board, we saw that the different [regional service commissions], according to their population, weren't quite equal," said Cpl. Hans Ouellette, spokesperson for the New Brunswick RCMP.

"What we wanted to do is give almost an equal basis across the board to really get the boots on the ground to get more visibility out there, and ... for our communities to one, feel safer, and for also public safety and police officer safety."

The RCMP provides provincial policing under a 20-year contract in areas of the province that don't have a municipal police force.

Municipalities are required to pay part of the cost, but some communities have complained in recent years that they don't feel they've been getting police coverage in line with what they're spending.

Ouellette said the RCMP has listened to those complaints, and thinks the added officers will increase RCMP visibility in communities, lighten officers' workload, and give them more time to carry out proactive enforcement.

Equalizing 'cop to pop' ratio

Ouellette said the number of officers per 1,000 residents, also known as the "cop to pop" ratio, was one of the main factors the RCMP used to determine where those new officers should go.

Currently, 35 officers are in charge of policing Regional Service Commission 11 which is largely the greater Fredericton area. That's a ratio of 0.6 officers per 1,000 residents —  the lowest of the 12 districts.

The RCMP has now earmarked 15 new officers for that region — the largest increase — bringing the ratio up to one officer per 1,000 residents.

Other regional districts will be receiving far fewer new RCMP officers, however, they'll all still achieve cop to population ratios of at least one officer per 1,000 residents, Ouellette said.

Ouellette said the distribution of new officers was also based on data such as the crime severity index across regions, as well as the ratio of officers per square kilometre.

"We've created this matrix ... that allowed us to really look at where we might have been lacking, and where we could put some more boots on the ground," Ouellette said.

More officers needed, Grand Lake mayor says

The news of more RCMP officers going to RSC 11 is welcomed by Grand Lake Mayor Kevin Nicklin.

Nicklin said at one time, the community 40 kilometres north of Fredericton had its own police station, however that came to an end years ago, leaving the nearest RCMP detachment in Keswick Ridge.

Nicklin said while he's received no guarantee that officers will be stationed in Grand Lake, he thinks the increase of officers in RSC 11 is needed.

"The cop to population ratio was way off in our area, which meant ... we didn't have a great service in our area ... and everybody kind of knew it," he said.

"You know, the visibility of the police in our area seems to have disappeared and we're hoping that this is going to help bring the police in our area."

Ouellette said of the total of 81 officers to be hired, 30 will be working behind the scenes in areas such as the RCMP's internet child exploitation unit, digital forensic services, explosive device unit, emergency response team, police dog services, operational communication centre and major crime unit.

Ouellette said the timeline for hiring the officers is expected to be about two years, and that the force is confident it will be able to successfully recruit strong candidates.