Saskatoon police request more officers to handle growing eastside population
Preliminary budget request $3.3 million higher than last year
The Saskatoon Police Service says it needs four new constables to deal with increasing demand from growing eastside neighbourhoods.
In its preliminary budget request to the City of Saskatoon, the service said it was struggling to keep up with demand in the newly-developed neighbourhoods of Willowgrove, Evergreen, Stonebridge, Rosewood and Brighton.
Police said the number of service calls to its East Division had increased by 1,000 from 2011 to 2015.
"These geographical increases have made it difficult for members to provide the level of service the citizens in these neighbourhoods deserve," says the preliminary report.
"Members have less patrol availability to be proactive and to interact with the public, in part, because of the greater distances they need to travel between calls."
Cyber crime and special investigations
The police service also requests funding for an additional two constables for its criminal investigations unit: one to work in special investigations and another focused on cyber crime.
The cyber crime position would be a new role aimed at improving the efficiency of police investigations.
"A cyber-crime investigator would locate, collect and analyze open and closed-source information which would be gathered in the digital and online mediums," says the preliminary police budget.
The service has also requested funding for a junior lawyer and an FOI officer to handle freedom of information requests under changes to FOI legislation.
The total sum
If approved, the 2017 budget would increase by about $3.3 million from 2016, when the total budget was $84,323,900.
The board of police commissioners will consider the budget request at a meeting on Thursday.
It will then be up to council to approve or reject the request when it considers the overall preliminary budget at the end of November.