Chatham-Kent police seeks 43 more officers, staff in next 4 years: chief

To help ensure more proactive service as calls increase, Chatham-Kent police are asking for a phased-in staffing boost in coming years.

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Police brass will make their budget request to councilors during upcoming deliberations, but the chief and deputy sit down with media Thursday to discuss the reasons for the need.

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A recent operational analysis by consulting firm Deloitte recommended adding 43 full-time staff to meet service demands in a growing community, Chief Gary Conn said.

“Our profession has definitely seen an increase in contemporary policing issues, complex social issues, increase in calls for service,” he said. “All of this. . . has increased the overall workload associated with our profession.

“This in turn has also had a direct correlation to the increase in active members who are off on some form of sickness, operational stress injuries. As a result, we’re seeing people serving fewer years and entering into retirement earlier.”

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Conn said the police service will request a phased-in approach to add 11 constables, four sergeants, one inspector, 11 special constables and 16 civilians.

That’s the same total recommended by Deloitte, but the service is seeking slightly fewer constables and sergeants, and more special constables.

If approved, 16 new employees would be hired in each of the first and second year, six the third year and five in the fourth year.

Some of the additional sworn personnel would go to the major crime unit, as well as the intelligence unit, which encompasses drugs and street crimes.

Conn said the aim of discussing the staffing request in advance was to be transparent and give the public a chance to “digest” the information.

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It also has been presented to the police services board and Chatham-Kent’s executive management team.

The overall police budget for 2024 is about $36 million.

Like the municipality, police will present a four-year budget, with an average annual increase of 6.95 per cent.

The police budget will be discussed at a special council meeting in council chambers at 6 pm Tuesday. It will be presented officially during council’s budget deliberations on Nov. 28. Public deputations will be heard during deliberations.

Councilors will have the opportunity to accept or refuse the request, Conn added. If refused, police would return to the board with proposed budget changes.

“We are receptive to anything within reason,” he said. “We appreciate the challenges associated with any budget, certainly during these challenging and difficult times, with inflation where it is.”

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Chatham-Kent’s ratio of officers per 100,000 population is 142. The provincial average is 174, while the national average is 183.

Deputy Chief Kirk Earley, who oversaw the staffing project and acted as Deloitte’s liaison, said the police service wants to align with the municipality’s goal of a healthy, safe community.

Though the service has implemented cost-saving initiatives over the years, it has reached the point where more staff is needed, he said.

“We are running at what I would refer to as bare bones,” he said. “We are a completely reactive service at this time. Some of the stats gathered by Deloitte show that 53 per cent of the time, we are usually at minimum or below and require overtime to increase our (service) zones.”

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Earley said overtime is an acceptable short-term response, but it leads to officer burnout in the long term.

In addition to front-line staff, other officer supports would be enhanced.

“We don’t have a full-time training unit right now,” the deputy said. “We have one sergeant in there. From this report, if approved, we will have a full-time training unit and . . . a recruiting section.

“We need to get recruiters in place to get the bodies in place. . . ,” he said. “Right now, we have multiple different people, on the corner of their desk, helping do recruiting.”

Deloitte noted Chatham-Kent police “wear too many hats” and the service would be more efficient if it can isolate who is responsible for a specific task, Earley said.

The new civilian employees would assist in support roles that could help free up sworn officers for more proactive policing duties, he added.

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