MOOSE JAW — The Moose Jaw Police Service recently received over half a million dollars in grant funding, some of which it will use to support two new initiatives in the Victim Services Unit.
The agency applied last spring for grants through provincial and federal streams, but because of long approval processes, it only learned that it was receiving the money — $501,233 — earlier this year, Acting Chief Rick Johns said after the recent Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting.
“So we went to work rather quickly to try and put that money to good use in driving forward some initiatives that (the) money was designed for,” he remarked.
The police service used the money to enhance the response efforts of the Victim Services Unit (VSU), specifically, by hiring Kayley Letilley as a second victim services co-ordinator to support Terri Roney, the main co-ordinator, Johns said.
Furthermore, it has created a new room where children of crime victims can have a safe space to tell their stories and receive support.
The agency is “just putting the finishing touches” on that room, while it is waiting for some audio-visual equipment to arrive, the acting chief added. Once the organization installs the equipment, it hopes to begin using that space regularly in a few weeks.
A board report about the grant funding showed that, before the police service received the unbudgeted revenue of $501,233, it had already spent $248,624.77 from various expense categories to support enhancements to its VSU.
Since some grant funding was for capital project initiatives and equipment purchases, the agency needed to redistribute some of the additional revenue into the affected accounts to balance them properly, the report said.
So, the MJPS asked the board to transfer $126,285.84 from the provincial revenue account to the capital account and $122,338.93 from the provincial revenue account to the equipment reserve account. It also asked Commissioners to approve a capital budget provision of $126,285.84 and an equipment reserve budget provision of $122,338.93.
The board voted unanimously to approve the requests.
Meanwhile, in an email to MooseJawToday.com, a police services spokesman said the agency had spent an additional $104,662 from its operating budget to support VSU activities, for a total of $353,286.77. Therefore, the organization would spend the remaining $147,946.23 in grant funding throughout the rest of 2025 to support the child youth advocacy centre.
The next police board meeting is Wednesday, July 16.
