The mayor of Belleville fully supports the decision by the Police Services Board to hire eight new front-line officers next year.
Appearing on CJBQ’s Lorne Brooker Show Mayor Neil Ellis said the population has grown and the increased calls for officer response is overwhelming the police service.
“As the Chief said, in 20 years we haven’t increased our complement and when you look at the population census we’re 7,000 or 8,000 more people and we are the hub so that adds up to even more growth in the surrounding areas that come here.”
Ellis said he believes most residents of Belleville are in support of the hiring of more frontline police officers.
“I think people realize that this has to happen. We had a public meeting last night and a couple of the questions were, you know, it looks like you’re short-staffed – is there going to be something done about it? The perfect storm is here.”
Ellis added that officers and staff with the police service are in favour of the plan.
“The men and women, I’ve talked to some of them and they’re very excited about this because it does wear on them (increased calls for service) not only mental health, exhaustion, and even overtime.”
Four new officers were added this year, eight are to be hired next year, and another six are to come on stream in 2025. Those hires are part of a three-year business plan approved by the police board.
When asked by Lorne Brooker about the extra cost, especially for the extra equipment that will be necessary, Chief Mike Callaghan said adding 25 officers over three years does not mean that the service will have to buy a lot of new vehicles.
“For the most part what we’ll do is double up in our existing vehicles. Having two officers arrive on a scene makes for not only improved policing but it will be much safer for our officers in more dangerous situations.”
Brooker raised another topic Wednesday, which was the strong mayor powers that council and Ellis approved on Monday allowing the city to be in line for around $2.4 million by 2031 if a housing target of 3,100 new housing starts is met.
Ellis said that money from the provincial government will help keep tax increases down as council moves to improve its police and fire services.