SACHS HARBOUR - Despite gripes from the community's hamlet and mayor, the RCMP will not be setting up in Sachs Harbour this year.

On June 25, NWT minister of justice Brendan Bell sent a fax to the hamlet, saying "significant alterations" to the residences were needed before police could live there.

However, Bell pledged that seeing a new detachment realized was a personal priority, and that he and RCMP would try to see a permanent base realized as fast as possible.

The two officers assigned to the hamlet are expected to move there next year. In the meantime the officers will work out of Inuvik, but will have a significant presence in Sachs Harbour, so the community can get to know them.

Inspector Roch Fortin, who spoke on behalf of the North District Policing Office on June 26, said this was a useful compromise.

"They're not getting a detachment, but they're getting two members who will be attached on a permanent basis," he said.

"We have individuals that the general population of Sachs Harbour will (eventually) be seeing every day. They are going to start building those community relations because the members attached to Sachs Harbour will have a vested interest to start immediately," he said.

While working out of Inuvik the Sachs Harbour officers will visit the community once a week.

When asked about the hamlet's recent public reaction to the delay - mayor Robert Eldridge said he was angry and council was expecting the RCMP to arrive in July - Fortin said there had been a misunderstanding.

"We knew we would be working with additional resources and have more frequent and continuous visits to Sachs Harbour. Maybe that was a bit of the miscommunication," he said.

Fortin said the officers could not stay in the hamlet because the lack of a jail cell would create dangerous situations.

"That becomes a safety issue, not only for the police officer but for someone held in custody," he said.

"If you arrest someone, what do you do? For the well-being of the officers and the individuals, it's something we have to look at," he said.

On June 20, Mayor Eldridge of Sachs Harbour has said he was angry about the delay, and said officers could work without a jail cell for a few months.

"Why have two officers sitting in Inuvik? They should be sitting here. If someone needs to be arrested, then send the plane," he said.

While the delay is regrettable, Fortin said, the community should still welcome its officers, because they will be living there.

"To build a detachment and have somebody stay there, there's a lot of things that need to be done first," he said.

Eldridge said construction of the new barracks should start in August 2008.

Sachs Harbour has been without police presence since 1992.