Policing costs not seeing dramatic rise in Pictou County communities

Communities in Pictou County are seeing police costs remaining manageable and in line with what is expected, according to local authorities.

This is the case while the price of police services is putting growing demands on Nova Scotia communities, seeing rising costs, and municipalities looking to do more with less as budgets are stretched thin.

Some communities around Pictou County have seen some slight increases in the costs of policing. From the previous year, the cost in New Glasgow in the last fiscal year has risen from $4,502,950 to $4,545,400, an amount CAO Lisa MacDonald describes as “not very much,” and in line with the expected costs in a town the size of New Glasgow.

Part of the reason New Glasgow’s policing services cost the amount they do is growth in the purview of the New Glasgow Regional Police, and its reach in terms of services.

“A number of years ago, the province came out with the White Paper standards of what the core policing services were. The Town of New Glasgow’s council took an active approach to make sure its community policing met those standards,” said MacDonald. The New Glasgow police have four platoons, consisting of five officers, a specialized traffic unit, a police dog — and a number of specialized services.

“We have our own identification unit, we are certified to investigate our own murders, which is unique for community policing. We have a major crime unit, and we also have the integrated street crime unit,” said MacDonald.

New Glasgow is also the home base of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Nova Scotia (CISNS), a partnership of law enforcement agencies that gather and share intelligence on organized and serious crime in the province. The town also has a school resource officer, and a unit that provides dispatch for fire departments outside the community, an emergency response team that is transitioning to a rapid response team.

A few years ago, Trenton switched to receiving its policing services from New Glasgow, and according to Mayor Shannon Macinnis, “so far, we have no complaints. We’ve seen a great level of policing service for our community at a dramatically reduced cost.”

The cost of policing in Trenton’s budget is roughly $575,000 per year, according to CAO Brian White, who noted that “we had a significant reduction in costs when we switched to the New Glasgow contract.”

The cost of policing in Stellarton for the past fiscal year was $1.6 million.

“The standards are going up, and the costs are going higher,” said Don Hussher, who serves as chief of police for both Stellarton and Westville. “The cost of policing increasing all over seems to be a trend.”

The cost of policing in Westville was $1 million in the town’s budget for the past year. CAO Kelly Rice said that figure could potentially go up with the upcoming legalization of marijuana and the new laws surrounding that.

Rice noted that it was difficult to tell one way or the other if the price would stay level or increase, but that “we are getting extremely good value for the cost of policing. The cost is proportionate to the size of a community like Westville.”

Hussher said both Stellarton and Westville are able to keep their policing costs down by sharing services and avoiding duplication of services between the two communities. Stellarton and Westville also partly offset their policing costs by revenue. Hussher noted that Stellarton received $218,000 in revenue in the past year, and Westville collected $167,000 in revenue.

Hussher said revenue is generated through sharing revenue, and services, provincial government funding through the Boots on the Street program and the provision of services, like the dispatch system in Stellarton.

“They do their share, and with what the province puts in, it keeps us in the game,” Hussher said.

The Town of Pictou has a policing agreement with the RCMP. For the last fiscal year, the town paid “a little over $880,000” for full-time service from seven constables providing 24/7 police services to the town, said CAO Dan Troke.

The amount the town pays for the RCMP’s service is paid in instalments, subject to adjustments for things like costs of living and overtime.

Troke noted that the cost is “fairly consistent,” and that in the coming fiscal year, he expects a similar price tag.