Police board considers options for $199,494 surplus

Peterborough Police has a surplus of $199,494 on a budget of $24.2 million it received from the city to run the force in 2017.

Now the Peterborough Police Services Board is going to ask city council to let them put that extra money in a reserve fund for special police projects.

At a meeting Wednesday night, the police board reviewed three items police could potentially buy with the surplus:

Fingerprint scanner ($17,819 plus HST)

A staff report states a new fingerprint scanner could be used for certain types of criminal record checks (for those who want to work with vulnerable people, for example).

Currently the police have only one fingerprint machine in the basement of the station and it’s primarily meant for criminal fingerprinting (meaning it’s often unavailable for criminal record checks).

Outfitting a dozen new auxiliary officers ($54,000)

A staff report states the police auxiliary unit typically has up to 35 members — but now only has 21, since they haven’t added any since 2013 (and there have been resignations since).

Auxiliary members are volunteers — usually with full-time jobs in other fields — who are trained to perform duties such as traffic or crowd control at events.

The cost to outfit one auxiliary member is about $4,500. That includes uniform shirt and all equipment issued to sworn police officers (except for the firearm and OC spray).

New mental health software ($21,160 annually, on a threeyear service agreement)

The Health IM software would be used on officers’ mobile tablets; it helps police to quickly evaluate the potential risk of harm for a person in crisis, states a report.

It also communicates the officer’s observations — translated into clinical language — to hospital triage staff.

But the board isn’t going to present council with this list of potential purchases for approval.

Council doesn’t approve particular purchases for police: it only approves the overall budget, which the board spends at its discretion.

Mayor Daryl Bennett, who is on the police board, suggested that the board ask council to keep the surplus for special projects without getting into the details of those prospective purchases.

“That’s the appropriate way to do it, in my opinion,” he said, adding that he doesn’t want to “pre-suppose” what council will want to do.

But police board member Ken East disagreed, saying council should be told how the board plans to spend the surplus.

“In the past, we’ve gone forward with an itemized list for council,” East said.

If the board doesn’t do that, he said, councillors may think they’re looking to create “a slush fund” for the force.

But Bennett said council would be told this is decidedly not a slush fund — it’s a way for police to cover costs for a few necessary items.

Police board chairman Bob Hall also pointed out that the meeting on Wednesday was held in public (meaning councillors will know what the board has in mind, for the surplus).

The next police board meeting is May 1.