FILE PHOTO - “The reality is, the RCMP, by contact, have 18 months to get those boots on the ground,” Kelowna RCMP detachment commander Supt. Kara Triance said. “I can usually do it in about 10 months if I’m very efficient and driving it forward."

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kelowna RCMP

At budget time each year, Thompson and Okanagan municipalities often “hire” new RCMP officers to meet the demands of growing communities.

Kelowna, as the largest city in the region and one of the fastest growing in the country, hires a handful each year. Just last week, city council approved 11 more officers and a number of civilians. But the police officers won’t show up until 2023.

“The reality is, the RCMP, by contact, have 18 months to get those boots on the ground,” Kelowna RCMP Supt. Kara Triance told iNFOnews.ca. “I can usually do it in about 10 months if I’m very efficient and driving it forward."

While the new officers were approved this month, that was just at the provisional budget stage. The final budget isn’t adopted until the spring.

Then the city will write to the province to get them to chip in their share of the administration costs for the new officers. The province then notifies the federal government so it ca pay its 10% of the costs of each officer.

Then officers have to be recruited and go through the training depot.

Right now, the eight officers approved in the 2021 budget are starting to arrive in the detachment and they should all be on duty in the next couple of months, Triance said.

READ MORE: Kelowna RCMP calls on province for help handling mental health calls

The fact that Surrey has converted to a municipal police force and will replace its 800 RCMP members over the next couple of years is not going to make much difference to that scenario.

About half of the initial intake of 135 new officers to the Surrey municipal force earlier this month were RCMP members, split between members transferring from the Surrey RCMP and those from other detachments.

No one from Kelowna went to Surrey but a couple of officers from Surrey came to Kelowna, Triance said.

The switch in Surrey means Kelowna, with its 210 police officers, is now the second largest detachment in Canada behind Burnaby.

Most of the new officers, eight this year and 11 next year, will come as new recruits, which suits Triance just fine.

“I love to build and mentor and embrace new members into our detachment,” she said. “I think it’s an opportunity to break in easily mouldable (officers) and help them to see my vision. I love a new recruit. I think a new recruit is an opportunity for a police force. I think they bring new ideas and fresh vision so I will happily bring on some recruits and have them come through the field coaching program in our detachment.”

While there was a shortage of new recruits willing to train for the RCMP a few years ago, the RCMP now has a union and has wages on par with municipal forces which has corrected that, Triance said. Kelowna is also a popular destination which means there are plenty to choose from, although Triance doesn't get to select the officers herself.

“It’s all done through the national hiring process,” she said. “I’ve been very clear that I want Kelowna to be a diverse and equitable police force and that I would take any police officers that allow us to diversify our cultural component and to make sure we are able to meet the needs of our community.”

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2021