(This
column was published in the North
Shore News on
Nov. 10, 1999)
Invest
surplus in police
By Leo Knight
FEDERAL
Finance Minister Paul Martin is ruminating on how best to spend
an anticipated $67 billion in budgetary surplus over the next
five years.
Editorials
across the country are also engaging in speculation on what this
government will do, with most predicting a spending spree that
would make Glen Clark blush.
Last
week, news broke that 30% of the RCMP in British Columbia have
not qualified this year on their firearms. News reports quoted
New Westminster police sergeant Ivan Chu saying his department
would not let an unqualified officer on the road.
Technically,
the RCMP have the same policy. Technically.
But
that was before the finance minister got all his extra money.
All
police officers need to qualify annually to demonstrate their
proficiency with their weapons.
This
is part of the ongoing training of every member of the police
service, including the RCMP. This was, you'll recall, a major
argument in the disarming of the police auxiliary.
But
two years ago, when the RCMP fell into budget problems, a number
of things occurred to cut costs, which continue to affect their
operations to this day and will for the foreseeable future.
First,
the training academy in Regina was closed for several months.
When it reopened, it had to scale up operations to get to full
speed, which took several more months. This was coupled with a
deliberate, artificially created shortage of manpower.
It
used to be that the police operated on a minimum strength basis.
Essentially this meant that each police shift had to field a
mandated minimum number of police officers required to answer
calls for service.
For
example, if a specific watch or team had 20 officers assigned to
it, and had a minimum assignation of 12, then they could never
go below that number. They usually fielded 16 or 17 officers and
rarely, only rarely, did the shift go down to its minimum.
Now
the minimum is the norm and the police are having to scramble to
meet that.
The
effect is quite simple. It takes longer to get the police to
come if you need them, and they have to postpone, or cancel
entirely, some programs, projects and other measures to combat
crime proactively just to meet their basic service functions.
Then
you get to the overtime budget.
When
they have to scramble to meet minimums, often it means calling
someone in on a day off and that translates into overtime pay.
Overtime used up in this fashion takes away budgeted money from
other operational areas.
Many
squads have already used up or surpassed their allotted overtime
for this fiscal year, which does not end until March 30.
All
of this, by the way, includes our own police detachment.
North
Vancouver is not immune to the fallout.
With
five months left in the fiscal year, North Van's burglary squad,
for example, has no overtime budget remaining.
The
problem then translates into issues like training, which brings
us back to the police officers who have not qualified on their
weapons.
To
qualify, an officer has to spend a full day at the firing range.
With
squads running at minimums, they cannot do this during a
scheduled workday. The solution is to bring the officer in on a
day off.
Sorry,
but that then means overtime. But there isn't any overtime
available in the budget. No overtime, no extra manpower, no
training. Result: unqualified police officers on the streets
breaking the Mounties' own policy.
The
whole situation is dreadful.
Paul
Martin and the Liberals have a boatload of extra money stolen
from the taxpayers as columnist Diane Francis said in the Financial
Post.
Martin waxes philosophically about the benefits of tax cuts over debt repayment. He is being courted by all manner of special interest groups looking for government handouts. All the while the police, whose job is to protect the public, are being choked to death by diminishing dollars.
Little
things like cellular phones being taken away from street
officers. Cars that don't get fixed when they should.
Replacement police cars being delayed to save a few bucks. Stuff
like that.
I'm
not talking about a huge increase in public spending. Just stop
nickel and dime-ing the police to death.
I,
like most Canadians, support financial prudence in our
government. When the list of public accounts is scrutinized my
blood boils at the insane waste of taxpayer dollars.
Equally,
I go nuts when governments shell out money to politically
correct special interest groups simply to court votes.
But,
I cannot understand the mentality of police staffing shortages,
broken or old equipment, inadequate training and a host of other
problems created by the budgetary crunch imposed on the RCMP by
treasury.
Monday's
Vancouver Sun did a feature on the crime rates in B.C.
and why we lead the rest of the country. We contract the
services of over 40% of the RCMP.
You'd
almost think we could get Paul Martin to peek over the Rockies
and notice there is a problem here.
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