Creston RCMP officers responded to over 2,600 calls for service from April 1 to September 22 — an increase of more than 400 from the same period last year.
Staff Sgt. Brandon Buliziuk presented the numbers to council Tuesday.
For Buliziuk, the increase is concerning given the detachment’s current staffing levels.
“Typically, in itself, around 400 to 600 calls for service is the equivalent of a member’s work,” he said. “So seeing that increase, it’s concerning with the staffing load that we have.”
The detachment currently has six vacancies out of 13 positions, including both permanent and temporary vacancies, and more are pending.
Buliziuk is also stepping down as detachment commander to take on a new role with the National Police Federation, leaving another hard vacancy.
“That will take us to well below 50 — 45 per cent resource load,” Buliziuk said.
He said more than half of the calls for service during the period came from the rural area, where each call can take longer to deal with because of travel.
“With those rural calls taking up more than 50 per cent of the calls for service load, the time to deal with those is far greater than it is on the municipal side, simply due to geography, travel.”
He said the increase is also tied to the population being served, changing demographics and changes in public safety policy and procedures.
The detachment has been bringing in officers from other communities to help cover shifts, but Buliziuk said that’s not always easy.
“That is very much a box of Band-Aids right now that we are using to get through.”
He said there are some positions in the process of being filled, including the detachment commander position, as well as a frontline supervisor and two constable positions.
Buliziuk said that means there is some hope for the detachment’s staffing picture to improve.
“As bleak as it does look today, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
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