Kamloops City Councillors have approved the RCMP’s new five-year strategic plan, which is calling for 25 additional officers by 2027.

The City has budgeted for 129 RCMP officers and 51 municipal employees to support them as part of the 2022 budget. Superintendent Syd Lecky says the goal is to gradually keep adding five officers and between two and three municipal employees for each of the next five years.

He says a growing population, the crime rate and the resulting caseload for existing officers, increases in homelessness as well as people with mental health and addictions issues, an increased need to supervise front-line officers, as well as Independent Investigation Office (IIO) investigation timelines are all factors that affect the RCMP in Kamloops.

“The more pressure that our members under and the overtime hours that they are working, it does put additional pressure on our members moving forward and it is reflected somewhat in our sick leave rates,” Lecky said at City Council Tuesday.

He says there are more than 40 officers working “excessive” hours at present, telling council that the overtime amounts to the work of five full-time officers.

“One of my priorities is to ensure the well-being of our members,” he said. “If we don’t have the good members working in the detachment and providing that service, it concerns me in our ability to meet the public safety needs of our community.”

In his report, Lecky said the City falls short of the B.C. and national average of 185 officers per 100,000 residents. To reach that figure, it would require Kamloops to add to the current authorized strength of 142 FTE officers, though the City is currently funded for 136 officers.

“The City is not directly charged for officers who are on long-term leave, which has a positive impact on the budget variance in the short term; however, it has an adverse affect on officers’ long-term viability and daily police activities,” Lecky said.

“The lack of resources [also] has an impact on emergency preparedness for things like fires and floods, organized crime, gang activities, and officers’ ability to investigate crime.”

Lecky noted that adding five officers in 2023 will cost the city about $1 million. There is no tax increase related to this request expected this year, as there are currently 120 RCMP officers working in Kamloops.

“As a result, the number of roadable officers (an officer is not sidelined due to illness or a leave of any kind) can be increased without any short-term adverse budget implications,” Lecky said, noting he’s asking for the staffing increase now as it takes about one year for an officer to report to Kamloops after a request like this is made.

Kamloops council voted in favour of the request to budget for 134 officers in 2023 – along with 54 municipal employees – with subsequent requests for future policing needs in 2024 and beyond going to Council for approval during budget talks.

Among those speaking in favour of the move was Councillor Mike O’Reilly, who says public and community safety has to be a priority.

“I have [had] the chance to talk to people about how much we spend on RCMP out of our municipal taxes,” he said. “When one cellphone bill is twice as much as what an entire home pays for policing in this community, all of a sudden people don’t mind paying a little bit more for their safety.”

“It is just putting things into perspective for people.”

Councillor Denis Walsh only person who voted against the motion as presented on Tuesday afternoon, citing an issue with the long range plan. He says the pandemic has made planning harder that it already was.

“It stretches out too far given there are so many changes going on right now,” Walsh said. “This pandemic has turned everything upside down. Our real problem with crime issues are generally, by the numbers anyway that I have seen, are social issues.”

“To judge everything based on the past two years is not a place to be. So I can’t support adding to the long term anyway, the projections.”

Walsh suggested that the City wait and see what impact the new Community Services Officer program and social housing growth could have on crime issue in Kamloops.

But Lecky noted that part of his five-year plan is accounting for population growth in Kamloops, telling council if the officers were not needed, he would not be asking for them.

Policing is the single largest expense in the City of Kamloops’ budget, amounting to about one-fifth of the $124-million budget.