It is time for city and the RCMP to change how it polices our community. Computer modelling based on prior statistics, increasing trends in crime that consume our officers’ time and the growing fiscal reality of the cost of simply putting more bodies on the streets show the members we have need more time for general duties.
Compared to the rest of the province, our city has fewer police officers per capita. At our detachment’s full capacity of 51 members, there is one officer for 1,255 people, compared to a provincial average of one officer for every 812 residents. That is a significant gap exacerbated by growing trends in crime. St. Albert is a safe city, but our officers are still responding to more calls every year.
At issue is our detachment’s ‘no-call-too-small’ policy that sees an officer respond to any call from the public about a potential offence, regardless of the type. According to a 2008 police resourcing model that was shared with council earlier this month, St. Albert RCMP members spent most of their time simply running from call to call. The optimum policing response, according to the model, is to have 25 per cent of an officer’s time free for patrols and other proactive responses. The data revealed that local members did not reach that benchmark 62 per cent of the time.
Statistics released in the RCMP’s 2009 policing report, released this week, demonstrate why. Policing activity as a whole has increased six per cent over last year. Members have responded to 12 per cent more Criminal Code offences, 10 per cent more minor traffic accidents and a sobering 30 per cent more injury accidents.
Thefts from vehicles continue to be one of detachment’s largest headaches, as the fourth quarter of 2009 alone saw a 76 per cent increase. The reality, however cold it might seem, is that crimes such as theft from vehicles are seldom solved. They can however, be prevented, not just by drivers hiding their valuables, but also by having more police cars on the streets conducting preventative patrols. Unfortunately that can’t be accomplished simply by hiring more officers. Fiscally, the responsibility falls to the city to budget for each officer and subsequent costs. The detachment asked the city for six additional general duty members, but the request went unfunded in 2010. In a year of recession, the $367,800 price tag for the first year and $735,600 each subsequent year was simply too steep to justify.
It is publicly reassuring to know an officer is always ready to respond, but if we want to put a dent in some of our growing crime trends, we as a city will have to give up what seems like a luxury. The ‘no-call-too-small’ approach has pushed our force to the breaking point. The detachment has changed its shift schedule to match the times certain crimes are most likely to happen, but as Insp. Warren Dosko told the Gazette earlier this month, there isn’t much more the detachment can do with the resources at hand inside the current model. If the city and detachment can’t find a way to give each officer more time for general duties, then emergency response — instances in which an officer is desperately needed — could suffer next.
Barring a massive influx of funding for several more police officers, it is in the best interests of the RCMP, the city and the community to scrap the ‘no-call-too-small model’ in favour of something more flexible. It will take time for the community to get used to, but we just might find our city is safer as a result.
