Steinbach MLA, Kelvin Goertzen, has written the province’s Minister of Justice appealing the recent provincial police funding announcement that failed to provide additional resources to the Steinbach RCMP Detachment.
“Both the City of Steinbach and the surrounding region are among the fastest growing in the province. That increase in population results in more calls for service for our RCMP who are struggling under that workload,” said Goertzen. “There isn’t any justifiable reason for the Steinbach RCMP Detachment to have been left out.”
Goertzen said that he believes there are still unallocated funds, particularly in the federally funded portion of the announcement. The province announced 66 new officers province wide with 30 of the new officer positions coming from $14.4 million of federal funding.
“I suspect from discussions that I have had that there are additional funds that remain available and I’ve asked the Minister of Justice to re-evaluate and to provide support for the Steinbach RCMP from those additional funds. Leaving this region out was, from all the statistics and reports that I have seen, a mistake. It needs to be corrected.” said Goertzen.
Last week the province announced they would be hiring 66 more police province wide, 30 coming from federal funding of $14.4 million.
