NRP to recruit 40 additional constables
Swelling ranks of uniformed officers welcome sight for front-line cops
Call it the class of 2020. The largest cohort of new officers to join the ranks of Niagara Regional Police that anyone can remember.
They will hit the streets sometime late this year. Forty additional officers will reinforce the front lines, joining 326 already on uniformed patrol.
The police services board has allocated the funds for them in this year’s $154.5-million budget.
“Back in the mid-1990s, we had two classes of about 20-plus new officers,” said NRP veteran Cliff Priest, who heads Niagara Region Police Association, which acts as the union for the officers.
“They came after a period where we were not hiring anyone. The biggest classes we have had lately are in the 10 to 12 range.
“I have to applaud the chief (Bryan MacCulloch) and the police services board for doing something previous chiefs and boards have avoided doing. It doesn’t solve all of our front-line issues, but it is a good start.”
The police board made the decision to go ahead and bolster the ranks after a request — backed by reams of data and analysis — from MacCulloch for more boots on the ground.
Calls for service jumped to 127,560 in 2018 from 112,169 in 2015, and projections for this year surpass 130,000. That’s more than 350 calls a day.
“The number of recruits is based on the number of calls for service, as well as the operational need determined by the chief,” said Ken Gansel, chair of the police board.
“The chief indicated he needed more officers to respond to the growing volume of calls from across the region.
“He put a case together that demonstrated what he needs to maintain adequate and effective policing, which is the standard required by the Police Act. The board then must respond. It’s all laid out in the Police Act.”
Priest cited the demands of modern-day law enforcement, which can pull officers off the street for hours on every shift, as one of the main reasons the front-line needs more resources.
When he started his career in the 1970s, Priest could make an arrest on an impaired driving charge and return to the road in an hour. Today, the same arrest — and the reports that follow — takes hours.
“They are trying to get as much work done in their cruiser as possible so that they can stay on the road, but then they end up running from call to call to call if you are working in a major district and, unchecked, it can lead to burnout.”
Another factor is the growing percentage of mental-health calls.
Priest said the calls are often complex and, coupled with drug addiction issues, defy a quick and easy solution. There are community partners the police call on for help, but there are gaps, and it falls on the police to fill them.
MacCulloch’s report showed the roster of front-line constables has been shrinking since 1980. That year, there were 395 on the front line and 583 sworn officers in total.
By 2000, there were 334 on the front line and 604 sworn. Last year, the NRP front line was down to 326 from a sworn contingent of 713.
Those front-line positions have been swallowed up by specialty units. The units cover sych things as child sexual exploitation and underwater search and rescue. They were created to meet provincial standards as well as changes in case law and recommendations from inquiries and commissions. Rather than hire more officers, previous chiefs and boards have raided the front line.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Priest said. “We need the specialty units, but we also need the front-line officers.
“This is a trend that goes beyond Niagara. If you look around the province, the major services are all asking for more officers on the front line. We have all hit the wall.”
Priest said the NRP is anticipating about 25 retirements this year, meaning the NRP will likely have 65 holes to fill.