Prince George RCMP will be getting some reinforcements in the form of two new members, thanks to a decision made by council.
At Monday’s budget meeting, the city approved the addition by a vote of seven to two.
Councillors Brian Skakun and Terri McConnachie voted against this.
“We have a substantial amount of RCMP members now, they do a great job and I think what needs to happen, especially in particular to the downtown,” Skakun says.
“If downtown is a priority for the force, then they need to deal with that without asking us all the time for more money for new members.”
Based on 2018 forecasts, the cost for two additional members from September 2018 to December 2018 would be $116,328. Annual costs afterward are forecasted to total $348,983.
“We have continuously been well above the municipal average in the province of BC for crime rates, or calls for service per member, and over the proceeding 10 years, the stats indicate that whatever progressive efforts that have been made had very little to do on crime,” Superintendent Brown explains.
“It’s obvious to me from stats and analysis that we’re just understaffed for a community our size and the crime rate.”
Skakun offered a counter of adding one member instead of two at the meeting, however, it did not garner any real interest from the rest of council.
“We’re going to be looking at millions of dollars of extra costs down the road that I don’t think we can afford,” he says.
“I just wanted to meet council halfway and see if anybody would bite on it but it didn’t seem to go anywhere and that’s fine.”
The estimated time for the positions to be filled is September of this year.
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