Steinbach city councillor Michael Zwaagstra has announced that he supports the request of Staff Sergeant Davey Lee for three additional RCMP officers to be added to the Steinbach detachment.
On May 18, 2010, Staff Sargeant Davey Lee appeared before council and requested additional officers so that a General Investigation Section (G.I.S.) could be created in the local detachment. Lee explained that this plain clothes unit would make it possible to investigate cases more thoroughly and greatly assist in the battle against organized crime.
Throughout his first term on council, Zwaagstra has been a forceful advocate for additional RCMP officers. He noted that while improvements have been made, Steinbach still has far fewer police officers on a per capita basis than any other city in Manitoba.
“Most other cities have a ratio of one officer per 500 people while ours is closer to one per 1000. In addition, we currently are the only major city without a G.I.S. unit. There’s no question that additional police resources are needed,” said Zwaagstra.
Earlier this year, a temporary G.I.S. unit was created using existing resources and in cooperation with the Ste. Anne Police Department. In his presentation to council, Staff Sergeant Lee noted that during the six week trial period, the work of this unit led to several major drug busts in the City of Steinbach.
Zwaagstra explained that the G.I.S. unit can only be created on a permanent basis if council approves the funding of additional officers since the existing complement is needed to patrol the city.
“As our city population grows, we need to make sure that we deal with crime on a proactive basis. This means that we must increase the number of officers in our detachment to keep up with that growth,” said Zwaagstra.
