4 more Mounties for Moncton area proposed, fewer than originally planned

The number of Mounties policing the Moncton area may increase next year, but by a smaller number than previously planned.

The Codiac Regional Policing Authority, a civilian board that oversees the Codiac Regional RCMP, unanimously voted Thursday evening in favour of a proposed budget of $47.75 million for 2024.

That's up $3.9 million from this year. It includes four more officers and three more civilian staff. It would bring the number of RCMP officers policing Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview to 156.

Municipal councils in those three communities, which fund the policing authority, will vote this fall on whether to approve the board's proposed budget. 

The recommended four officers are fewer than the 10 the policing authority planned to add as part of a strategic plan approved last fall. That plan called for five officers this year, 10 in 2024 and again in 2025.  

It was a change board member Corinne Godbout questioned Thursday.

"We decided we didn't have enough information to continue with those," Charles Savoie, the director of strategic planning and policing support services, responded in French.

Savoie said they were working on measures, called key performance indicators, to track the impact of hiring more officers and wanted to take a closer look at how many officers are needed. 

Board chair Don Moore told reporters Thursday that Codiac RCMP is preparing a five- to 10-year operational plan. 

"In that process they've asked us to pause getting 10 more," Moore said of the RCMP.

"They've asked for — let's do four based on, primarily on population growth, that then we can plan out how we really want policing resources to operate here in greater Moncton."

Officials last year said hiring 25 more officers was required to ensure the region had an adequate police force.

"It's still not adequate," Moore said when asked about those previous comments.

"I'll be clear about that. But we want to make sure that as we grow as a police force that we're doing it in step with our community. And that's why we're properly presenting appropriate plans to be able to make sure that we know why we need these police officers. Not strictly just population growth, but for what are the policing needs in our community?"

No one from the public commented at the meeting, a change from last year when plans for 25 more officers drew speakers who opposed the move and advocated spending the money on other services. 

Moore said the board had not carried out consultations this year with community groups. He said the plan was based on consultations held in 2022 that led to the recommendation to add 25 officers. 

Councils to get details in coming weeks

Only limited details about the proposed 2024 budget were made public Thursday. Moore declined to share a copy of a document with figures given verbally during the meeting.

Nagesh Jammula, the board's vice-chair, outlined the budget ahead of the board's vote. Jammula said the budget proposed an 8.95 per cent increase in spending over this year.

Beyond the additional officers and civilian staff, Jammula said $425,000 would be for new body armour, while another $900,000 would be for pensions, training and administrative costs. It also accounts for salary increases.

Moore said the proposed budget is expected to be presented to Riverview council Oct. 11, Dieppe council on Oct. 16 and Moncton council sometime early in November.

The increased number of officers comes after years of growing concern about crime, drug use and homelessness in the Moncton region. 

Data released in July by Statistics Canada indicated the crime rate for the Moncton region in 2022 amounted to 8,206 incidents per 100,000 people. That was above the national average of 5,668 and the provincial rate of 7,007 incidents per 100,000 people.

The crime rate in the Moncton region, however, peaked in 2019 at 9,921.