Penhold Mayor Mike Yargeau (Photo supplied) 

By Sheldon Spackman

Maybe Next Time

Penhold disappointed no new officers for Innisfail RCMP this year

Jul 17, 2020 | 3:10 PM

Penhold’s mayor is expressing surprise and disappointment over the fact there are no new officers planned for the Innisfail RCMP Detachment in 2020/2021.

Mike Yargeau says with the Town given a $62,000 policing bill from the province this year, they were expecting to at least see one additional RCMP officer for the local detachment.

“It does look like the Innisfail Detachment will be receiving some clerical support which will hopefully allow uniformed officers to be out in the field more often,” says Yargeau. “We have reached out to the province for some more information as to what our RCMP requisition will be getting us going forward.”

Yargeau added, “I think it is important for the provincial government to communicate with Penhold residents and Albertans about how they are spending our $62,000 which will be over $180,000 in four years.”

On July 2, it was announced that Alberta’s Police Funding Model would result in additional resources for Alberta Mounties in 2020/21, specifically 76 new police officers and 57 new civilian support positions. The additional resources are expected to directly or indirectly support frontline policing in communities being served across rural Alberta.

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To date, officials with Alberta RCMP say they have filled a total of 46 positions to increase rural policing levels and to enhance rural crime reduction efforts.

The filled positions include 25 frontline police positions in Alberta rural communities; 18 centralized police officer positions to provide support and specialized services to all rural Alberta RCMP detachments; and three civilian support positions to provide administrative and program support across the RCMP provincial jurisdiction.

In the Central Alberta District, 10 frontline positions were allocated for the current year in Camrose, Blackfalds, Leduc, Morinville, Parkland, Rocky Mountain House (two positions), Stettler, Strathcona and Thorsby.

Innisfail Detachment, which provides policing services to the town of Penhold was not on the list.

According to the Justice and Solicitor General Police Officer Grant Allocation to Municipalities last year, Innisfail Detachment received one new officer and a grant of $100,000 to help cover the cost of that officer in 2019/2020.

Municipalities with a population over 5,000 that provide their own municipal police services are eligible for the grant which is issued each year with no application required.

With the new provincial RCMP requisition costing the Town of Penhold $62,000 in year one of the new funding model, Yargeau admits challenges lie ahead with that cost climbing to $180,000 by year four.

“These are numbers we are required to make up in our budget either through tax increases or service cuts. Penhold is constantly looking at ways we can increase our efficiency so we can avoid either of those possibilities.”

Yargeau says while Innisfail Detachment did not get additional RCMP officers for this year, both he and council are still hopeful their local detachment will be in line for more resources soon.

“We have reached out to our local MLA (Devin Dreeshen) and the Justice Minister (Doug Schweitzer) for more information and will work with the province and RCMP to ensure Penhold and area is looked after.”