Ghost cops should be less of a problem in sa国际传媒 next year and in 2026, city councillors heard Thursday.听
The number of funded but vacant RCMP positions is declining from 鈥渦nacceptably鈥 high levels, safety manager Darren Caul said. He said he could not be specific on just how many such vacant positions currently exist, citing 鈥渙perational reasons鈥.听
But in the recent past, council has heard vacancy rates have ranged from 15 per cent to as high as 30 per cent due sluggish recruitment at the RCMP training depot in Regina, and current members being off work for reasons such as illness, stress, parental leave, and suspensions for misconduct.听
The 2025 city budget will see the addition of seven more RCMP members at the sa国际传媒 detachment, bringing the local force up to a notional full-strength of 251 officers.听
But there are fewer than that actually working there because of the vacant positions.听
鈥淭he number of vacant positions remains high, and unacceptably high, from our perspective as a city, and thatsa国际传媒 province-wide,鈥 Caul said.听
But trainee numbers at the Regina depot are up, there will be some RCMP officers available as a result of the switch to municipal policing in Surrey, and attrition rates within the national police force are declining, Caul said.听
鈥淲e do have reason for optimism that these last two years of significant and unacceptable vacancies will improve in 2025 and particularly through into 2026,鈥 Caul said.听
City manager Doug Gilchrist agreed with Caulsa国际传媒 assessment, and said he too expected to see more 鈥渂ums in seats鈥 at the sa国际传媒 RCMP detachment in the near future.听
Gilchrist also told council the local force had asked for more than seven new members recommended in the budget, but municipal managers settled on the seven as a reasonable and fiscally prudent addition to the detachment.听
The police budget for sa国际传媒 in 2025 will be more than $75 million, triple what it was a decade ago.听
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