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New provincial funding is on the way to support rural police services across Saskatchewan with an investment to the tune of $190,000.
On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan government announced the introduction of the Small Town and Rural Police (STAR) Services Grant Program, which will provide $10,000 for every sworn officer serving in those police services.
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According to the province, small town and rural police services have historically operated without provincial funding, relying solely on municipalities or rural municipalities.
“This grant program ensures all police services in Saskatchewan are now financially supported by the provincial government,” the province said in a media release.
The grant program is also meant to help small town and rural police services assist the RCMP by responding to property damage, collisions and enforcing provincial statues or municipal bylaws.
“The STAR Grant Program will help smaller police services strengthen proactive policing efforts, improve response times for calls of service, and potentially support recruitment and retention efforts by giving these police services greater operational flexibility,” the provincial government said.
Police services receiving STAR Grant Program funding this year include Corman Park Police Service, receiving $110,000 to support 11 officers; Dalmeny Police Service, receiving $20,000 for two officers; Luseland Police Service, receiving $10,000 to support one officer; Vanscoy Police Service, receiving $30,000 to support three officers; and Wilton Police Service, receiving $20,000 for two officers.
The Saskatchewan government announced the introduction of the Small Town and Rural Police (STAR) Services Grant Program, which will provide $10,000 for every sworn officer serving in those police services. (Marija Robinson/650 CKOM)
Chief of Police for Corman Park Police Service, Robert A. Duttchen, said smaller police agencies want to have similar capacities to larger agencies.
Duttchen added some of the funding will be used to upgrade equipment as policing has become increasingly complex. Demands on and the tools used by officers are constantly evolving.
“We want our officers to be capable, competent and able to use every tool at their disposal, but we have to continue to resupply the tools,” he said.
“That money is going to go a long way to just addressing some of the day to day organizational things that we need to enhance.”
Duttchen said the service is looking at hiring three new officers by the end of the year and the organization is “a little bit behind the eight ball” on its equipment budget.
“We had no deliberate tactical and strategic plan around how we were going to target known areas of concern for things like impaired driving in the summer, community order, (and) Ag in Motion that takes place every summer within the RM,” he said.
Now, Duttchen said the grant program provides “wiggle room” for the police service to allocate funding to get officers out to enhance community and public safety within the RM.
–with files from 650 CKOM’s Marija Robinson
