(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops city council gave the OK for a five-officer boost to local RCMP ranks, but not without voicing their discontent with rising police costs.

Noting the city's high crime rate, growing RCMP costs handed down from from Ottawa and the potential knock-on effects of Surrey's transition to a municipal police force, councillors said the costs of fighting crime are simply getting too high.

"With those numbers, we should be the safest community on the planet," councillor Katie Neustaeter said. "We should all feel incredibly safe. That is not the sentiment of the community right now, that is not the reality."

She went on to call the justice system broken, suggesting officers are doing the same task or arrest the same person repeatedly.

After railing against a lack control over the RCMP contract the city pays for and a lack of clarity from the provincial government on annual costs, they still voted in favour of adding more officers to the local detachment. According to a staff report, that would bring the total active duty officers to 143.

It was part of an early look at the city's 2025 budget, which is expected to see at least a 9.6% property tax increase. Policing costs are the single largest piece of the city's budget and will see the highest growth of any one line item, according to a report presented at city hall on Nov. 19.

A projected $3.6 million increase to the RCMP contract for 2025 brings the total ask to nearly $44 million. It's an amount that's been gradually growing over the years and with policing costs taking up 13.5% of the city's overall spending in 2023.

The one dissenting vote to adding five constables was also the only councillor to question whether policing should account for such a large share of the city's budget.

"I'm really grappling with adding five new members when it's not clear what the endgame is," councillor Nancy Bepple said. "We've been increasing and increasing policing, but we're not putting money into the other things at the same pace that make communities safer."

Bepple said policing isn't the only way to invest in public safety, suggesting a pause to the hiring scheme and putting more funds toward road safety or social programs such as supporting women's shelters or homeless youth.

"We need to balance our approach," she said. "I mean, there are the big drug busts, but there's all sorts of things policing does in our community. Maybe this is a time to say we've got the (community service officers) up and running, maybe we want to scale back."

The city has been lobbying to have its bylaw officers given more legal authority as peace officers, an initiative Bepple is wary of. They are now called community service officers and given greater responsibilities.

Despite her skepticism of the program, it was billed as a move that would alleviate some pressure on police officers for matters that aren't criminal. She asked staff whether the change has reduced costs or workload for RCMP or whether a 24-hour service would do so. Staff didn't give a clear answer, with Fire Chief Ken Uzeloc only suggesting bylaw officers don't get involved in criminal matters.

Although other councillors raised concerns with rising RCMP costs and issues like increasing administrative tasks for officers or repeated releases of prolific offenders, Bepple didn't get support from other councillors for calls to slow funding and put it toward social programming.

Councillor Stephen Karpuk said it's not a council responsibility and councillor Bill Sarai said policing costs tend to be one of the few matters voters welcome when taxes go up.

"I totally agree with councillor Neustaeter this is another form of downloading, but this downloading is locked and loaded," Sarai said. "I would argue there's not going to be a lot of residents that hammer us and say, 'Why did you get another police officer in my neighbourhood?' or, 'Why did my taxes go up?' I think the two that I can always stand on a hill and defend our fire and police."

He said the formula that decides what municipalities should pay compared to other governments should be examined, but also said the city needs the five additional officers.

The increase in officers isn't solely a matter of salaries. RCMP headquarters announced a nationwide rollout of a body camera program earlier this month, which is expected to cost $225,000 per year, according to the city staff report. Another $760,000 comes from new body armour and new firearms for officers, a change that caught city staff off guard this year.

The Surrey transition to municipal policing, meanwhile, means ticket revenues will likely drop. BC RCMP ticket revenues are distributed among municipalities, but the Surrey transition means it won't be included any longer.

After a lengthy conversation at city council, the five-officer increase was approved with the expectation that council will "turn up the heat" on pressure against higher levels of government.

"If we don't vote in favour of this, the story is going to be council doesn't believe in safety in the community," Neustaeter said. "That is not the story, that is not what's true."

The decision to set aside funds for five more officers was passed with a 7-1 vote. Bepple opposed it, while councillor Mike O'Reilly was absent.

The increase will be included within the 2025 budget process, which will continue into next spring.

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