Steinbach MLA and Progressive Conservative Justice Critic, Kelvin Goertzen, asked the province’s NDP Minister of Justice at committee last week to look at opening up the Community Safety Officer (CSO) program so that municipalities like Steinbach and Hanover could apply for the program if they desire.
“The Community Safety Officer program provides some flexibility for municipalities to hire individuals who are not RCMP but who can enforce by-law issues and some provincial laws. Like cadets with the Winnipeg Police Service, they would allow rural police forces to concentrate more time on investigating crime and preventative policing,” said Goertzen.
Currently, the Community Safety Officer program is only operating in Thompson as a provincial pilot project.
Goertzen notes that many municipalities are struggling to provide adequate law enforcement services either because of the large physical area of some municipalities or because of the cost of policing growing populations.
“We know that with growing communities comes many positive things but it also bring challenges. One of those can be increased illegal drugs, for example, and police need the time to investigate those issues. Having options like Community Safety Officers (CSO’s) can be beneficial financially while allowing police officers to focus on preventing crime and not just reacting to it,” said Goertzen.
Goertzen also cited at committee the example of someone who RCMP take into care under the Mental Health Act and are sometimes required to wait hours with before that individual can be discharged to medical professionals or in the proper facility. Local Steinbach councilors have raised this as an issue of concern with Goertzen because it ties up police resources for long periods of time.
NDP Minister of Justice Gord Mackintosh acknowledged this is a significant concern and indicated that CSO’s could be used in this situation and that other alternatives are also being looked at to try to better use police resources in this circumstance.
Mackintosh also told the justice committee in response to Goertzen’s questions that he will be meeting with municipalities, including Steinbach, in the weeks ahead to discuss the expansion of the program to areas that have an interest in it. Goertzen hopes that the option to hire CSO’s can be done quickly for communities that demonstrate a need and an interest.
