HAY RIVER - Sgt. Scott Buchanan of the Hay River RCMP says members of his detachment are very busy, and he has the numbers to prove it.

Sgt. Scott Buchanan: sergeant says RCMP detachment in Hay River is extremely busy. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

In a report to town council on Feb. 7, Buchanan offered a comparison to police workloads and file counts across Canada, noting that, according to Statistics Canada, the average number of Criminal Code investigations is 42 per police officer a year.

In Hay River, the average number of Criminal Code investigations per year per RCMP member is more than 200, he said. "So that's over five times the Canadian average."

Each investigator also averages in excess of 100 investigations per year that result in charges laid, the sergeant said.

Those calculations are based on the fact the detachment had 3,418 investigative files during 2010, not including more than 900 people requesting criminal records checks.

"Of those 3,400-plus files, many of them are Criminal Code or controlled drugs and substances abuse offences, which are federal offences," he said. "There is probably about 30 per cent or so that are perhaps non-criminal, which would be territorial or bylaw offences."

And, in 2010 the prisoner count – the number of times people were held in custody at detachment cells – was 1,124.

"It's always an interesting figure to gauge how busy the town is by the prisoner count," Buchanan said, noting the total was 1,077 in 2009.

"For the five years prior to that, on average, there were about 650 prisoners per year," he continued. "I don't know exactly what's going on other than estimating that the members that are here are catching more people in the act or taking more subjects of complaints off the street."

Buchanan warned maintaining police services at his preferred level is becoming difficult due to the capacity limitations.

"I anticipate in the future, due to many reasons particularly fatigue burnout, that some nice-to-have programs and services may suffer, not to say that we won't try to do our best to continue to maintain that high level of service," he said. He listed those nice-to-have programs as things such as school talks and community involvement.

Such things are part of being a well-rounded general duty member of the RCMP, the sergeant said. "But when you have so many things on your plate, you have to do the priorities first."

In fact, he said the detachment might even have to resort to selective police attendance, using the example of city police who don't attend a traffic accident unless someone is hurt or cars are impeding traffic.

"That might be something that we move towards," he said.

Coun. Ken Latour said he appreciated the sergeant's concerns.

"Your organization is key to this town's security and its sense of well-being," Latour said.

Coun. Andrew Cassidy said the sergeant's report indicated the detachment is very committed to the town based on the work they're doing and their volunteer efforts.

The Hay River detachment has a regular complement of a sergeant, a corporal and seven constables, plus two civilian support workers.

Buchanan said the detachment is considering applying for more GNWT funding for additional officers.

"That's quite a long process," he said. "If we put a business case together and sent it in, it would be a minimum of two years before we see any difference in staffing levels."

The detachment does have two auxiliary constables, which are members of the community who volunteer to help the police.

"This is an area that I hope to develop in the near future to deal with our capacity issue," Buchanan said.

In addition, he said a community constable, which is an updated version of the former special constables, is slated for Hay River on a three-year pilot project.

Steve Beck of Hay River is currently training at the RCMP depot in Regina to fill the role. His training is due to be complete in May.

Buchanan said the community constable will be a liaison to people and organizations, and will not be tasked with responding to complaints and conducting investigations, although he can assist.

"His main duties will be being involved in the schools and community events," the sergeant said.

Buchanan also suggested community residents could become more involved in crime prevention, mentioning Citizens on Patrol as an example.

"It's always good when a community takes a role in policing themselves," he said.

Latour said an effort to launch a Citizens on Patrol group stalled a few years ago, but Buchanan said the RCMP would be willing to help try to set up such a group.

The sergeant said the recently-hired bylaw officer with the Town of Hay River is also helping the RCMP by dealing with town concerns, such as barking and loose dogs.

Aside from members of the Hay River detachment, there are a number of other officers in town who serve the region – a staff sergeant for South District of 'G' Division, two members of Traffic Services and a police dog handler.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.