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By Derek Craddock

COMMUNITY SAFETY OFFICERS

Northwest RMs explore possibly merging Community Safety Officers programs

Nov 29, 2023 | 12:00 PM

Noting the high costs of running a Community Safety Officer (CSO) initiative, some northwest rural municipalities (RM) are looking at the possibility of amalgamating their programs.

Last week, a series of meetings were held in different RMs including Mervin, Spiritwood and Meota to discuss the possibility of merging the programs and what it could mean for the different areas.

According to Gordon Spencer with the RM of Mervin, the cost is the big reason this idea is being floated.

“It’s very expensive so if we can amalgamate a bunch of our RMs in the northwest and it’ll make it more affordable,” he said.

According to provincial numbers from 2020, the cost of setting up a Community Safety Officer program is about $200,000. Municipalities can expect between $75,000 and $120,000 for subsequent years.

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These costs include salaries, dispatching and monitoring services, vehicles, uniforms, supplies and initial training.

According to Ray Orb, the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), the RMs have had to bear these costs.

“I don’t think a lot of RMs can afford to do this on their own, hence the need to work together to share officers and that’s something that’s allowed under the program.”

Orb added SARM has made multiple resolutions to lobby the government to fund more safety officers.

The most recent came in 2022 when a resolution was passed to lobby the province for financial assistance to RMs to employ these officers. SARM argued that aside from costs being taken on by municipalities, RCMP detachments in some jurisdictions can’t provide adequate coverage because of a lack of officers and a rise in crime.

In response, the minister of corrections, policing and public safety at the time stated: “There is no program funding in place for CSO programs. CSOs are still going to be provided training opportunities at minimal cost for weights and dimensions on courses provided by the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol. CSO employers are only responsible for travel costs as no tuition costs are charged.”

The minister added the commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP determines resourcing levels, and the province is working with them to address SARM’s concerns.

Spencer admitted while RCMP do what they can for RMs, they can’t be everywhere.

“The CSOs work very closely with the RCMP and can do certain jobs, not everything, just certain jobs that will take time away from the RCMP,” he said.

Orb noted another recently passed resolution asked the province whether funding Targeted Support Service (TSS) could be used to help with costs for the Community Safety Officer program.

The TSS initiative uses a portion of municipal revenue sharing for certain projects in collaboration with other communities.

Orb said the province told SARM that TSS funding was not designed for safety officers.

In an email to paNOW, the ministry of policing, corrections, and public safety said any CSO program has to be approved by the province and any cost-sharing details of an approved amalgamation is the responsibility of those involved.

Spencer said this idea is still in its infancy and future conversations are planned.

“We have to get together with the RMs that have Community Safety Offers right now and talk about amalgamating into one area,” he said. “We had several options last week and we looked at the price and now we have to decide where we’re going to have the central office maybe to work out of.”

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com