» Westman councils consider Carberry’s safety officer plan

The Town of Carberry is hoping to hire its first community safety officer this year in a bid to increase the presence of law enforcement.

Carberry council passed a bylaw in May, allowing the town to set aside money for the launch of a community safety officer program. Mayor Ray Muirhead told the Sun council is considering the project a high priority.

“We’ve instructed our chief administrative officer to go forward and really put the heat on this,” said Muirhead. “I said let’s get moving on this, and move fast.”

Muirhead said an aggressive estimate is to have the program up and running by the end of summer. Carberry is looking to bring in nearby municipalities such as Oakland-Wawanesa, Riverdale and Souris-Glenwood to share the program and split the costs.

The town would need to pay for startup costs like the uniform, equipment, training, vehicle, office space and salary of a community safety officer. The cost would be somewhere up to $150,000, said the mayor.

Deterring crime and having someone nearby to call are the two main reasons to start the program, Muirhead said.

Carberry is policed by the Blue Hills RCMP detachment near Brandon, which means that officers travel through the community and respond to calls, but can’t always be nearby. Muirhead told the Sun last year, “If something happens in Carberry and you need the police like right now, there’s a good chance that the police you need could be patrolling main street Souris.”

Council is seeking to bridge that gap. The community safety officers are able to be headquartered in Carberry, with office space available inside the municipal office to start.

“We just want their visibility and their presence in town,” said Muirhead. “That’s all we need, just to know that somebody is in town, driving around, that they’re visible.”

Carberry is encouraging several nearby municipalities to join in on the program, and share the officers and the cost of the program. The Sun connected with the mayors and heads of council in Oakland-Wawanesa, Rivers, and Souris to get comment on if they will join.

Riverdale Mayor Heather Lamb told the Sun that council decided it was the wrong time to join. Rivers switched over to RCMP last year from its own police force, the Rivers Police Service, and the community does not yet know if there’s a gap that needs to be addressed.

“We need to do proper assessments of all of this,” said Lamb. “We haven’t been long enough with our RCMP yet, got to wait and see.”

Lamb said Riverdale may review the decision after roughly a year and a half. But she said so far, council feels that good relationships are forming between Blue Hills RCMP and the municipality, and there is no need to bring in extra security.

In an interview with the Sun, Souris-Glenwood Mayor Duane Davison said community safety officers could be hired and working in Souris-Glenwood in the new year.

Davison told the Sun council wasn’t able to budget for the safety officers in the current year. He said council, however, has a budget process later this year where they plan to set aside money for the program.

“We’ve kind of decided it’s something we want to do,” said Davison. “Fall is when we would plan to commit money for the following budget year. We want to be able to be prepared to make it happen in the new year.”

Souris-Glenboro would have a philosophy of using the community safety officers to support RCMP, Davison said. The community does not have a bylaw enforcement officer, so Davison said there is an extra value of hiring a safety officer who could act in that role as well.

According to Davison, there is a need to increase the visibility of security in Souris-Glenboro. Davison said community members have expressed concerns, and that “residents are getting frustrated with the lack of police presence.”

Souris-Glenboro is also policed by the Blue Hills RCMP detachment, which has a team of roughly 14 members who are tasked with covering 2,200 square-miles of territory in Westman. Davison mentioned that there are some tasks that could be downloaded onto the new safety officers to free up the RCMP officers, such as traffic enforcement.

The budget would be set this fall so that the municipality is in a position to “hit the ground running” in the new year, Davison said.

Oakland-Wawanesa Head of Council Dave Kreklewich told the Sun that his council had not voted in favour of the program as of May. He said council has been judging whether Oakland-Wawanesa would get enough value for the investment, as it is a small municipality with limited funds.

“What we’ve been doing is, basically, taking a look to see if it is feasible for us,” said Kreklewich. “What is it going to do for our municipality? What are the pitfalls in it? We’re going to put in how much money? And are we going to get the exposure we need?”

Kreklewich said the municipality could not afford to hire its own officer. Council is looking to see if there will be enough dedicated time in the area from community safety officers if they are split between several municipalities such as Carberry, Souris and Wawanesa.

The council will have an information presentation later this June on the program.

Part of the reason the program is on the radar in Westman is because word spread from Portage La Prairie where several businesses received the safety officer program positively, Davison said. Portage la Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce member Adrienne Mekkes, who owns a hair salon, told the Sun last year the program is a big support.

“The addition of community safety officers by the City of Portage la Prairie has had a tremendously positive impact on my business, Styled With Meraki,” Mekkes said. “With a younger staff comprised mostly of women, the officers have brought an invaluable sense of security to our workplace. Knowing there is someone to call who can respond quickly to smaller issues has given us all greater confidence and peace of mind while at work.

“The officers’ community walks have also made a noticeable difference for our customers, who feel safer in our parking lot and surrounding area. This added presence has created a more secure and welcoming environment, benefiting both our staff and clients.”

Community safety officers are empowered by provincial legislation in several ways, such as to direct traffic, pull over a vehicle, take intoxicated people into custody and carry items like handcuffs, a baton and an aerosol weapon such as pepper spray. Muirhead, Kreklewich and Davison said they would be interested in using the safety officers to enforce bylaws.

Muirhead said Carberry is moving forward on the program regardless whether any other municipality comes on board — but he hopes others will, and the program may be able to hire more than one officer.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com