The Moose Jaw Police Service will send two recruits to the Saskatchewan Police College this fall for 20 weeks of training, with each recruit expected to cost about $30,000 to train.
The police service does not pay for training costs at the college because it provides instructors to prepare the students, which is considered an in-kind expense, explained Police Chief Rick Bourassa. Many officers from around Saskatchewan conduct training sessions for free, either for one day or several days depending upon the course component.
“In exchange, we get the benefit of the college training without the cost to us,” he remarked.
Bourassa spoke with the media recently to expand on some issues discussed during the July 12 Board of Police Commissioners meeting.
What the police service (MJPS) does pay during training are the accommodations and meals since recruits stay at the University of Regina. It costs about $8,000 per trainee to house and feed them during the five-month course.
“That’s a number that’s fluid because our members stay in the university residences and those fees can change as we go on,” said Bourassa.
Furthermore, the police service is expected to pay its recruits during the training as if they were full-fledged officers, he continued.
There is a requirement in the organization’s collective bargaining agreement — every police service has this clause, the police chief noted — featuring a training pay rate. While the trainees are not paid like an operational officer, they will receive more money as they acquire more experience.
“We’d be looking in the area of about $30,000 all in for the 20 … weeks of police college training,” Bourassa added.
New clothing
It costs the MJPS about $20,000 to equip each officer with clothing, but the organization expects to be over budget this year in that area because it is hiring new members, said Bourassa.
“It’s not an inexpensive proposition to fully equip a police officer,” he stated. “And then we have other situations where clothing is torn and damaged and those pieces.”
The agency attempts to forecast its expenditures regularly but is never sure if those predictions will occur, the police chief continued. Some years the organization forecasts too little, other years, too much. However, he thought the MJPS would be fine in this situation and could work through it.
A fluctuating budget
The police service expects to underspend in some budget categories this year, particularly in salaries and benefits, because it expected to hire four officers this year but could only hire two because of capacity issues at the police college, which isn’t positive, Bourassa said.
Some of that money could be directed to other budget areas experiencing higher costs, such as fuel and vehicle repairs.
“We never want to bank on having vacancies as a way to manage these other things,” laughed Bourassa. “When we put forward our budget, we always plan to staff those positions.”
Inflation is also affecting the budget and increasing costs in various areas, which the leadership team will continue to monitor, he continued. The organization had the opportunity to send a couple of officers away for training, but it would have cost almost triple the regular expenses, so those members didn’t go.
Bourassa added that the organization continues to track its budget and determine what projects it can push into 2023.
Vehicle issues
The MJPS is having difficulties purchasing new vehicles because of supply issues, but the organization has enough cruisers to operate efficiently even though it uses those vehicles hard daily, said Bourassa. He didn’t think this problem would hamper the organization’s activities in the short term since it had backup vehicles available, even though they are not fully equipped with the correct gear.
“… we will never allow a shortage of vehicles to impact anything,” he added.
