Many police officers have racked up significant overtime during the past three months as they have helped support two high-profile investigations that nabbed several offenders and quantities of drugs and guns.
As of Nov. 30, the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) had spent $7,428,562.09 on salaries, which represented 84.17 per cent of what it budgeted this year.
That amount also included overtime paid to members for supporting two major operations: one on Oct. 21 that led to the arrest of Jirard Saddleback — who shot at police — and another on Nov. 30 that led to the arrest of Zackery Marckoski — the main focus — along with Jessica Proulx, Michael Joel McKechnie, and Nicole Belsher.
“People don’t realize this: we don’t work Monday to Friday. We work 24/7/365. Our police service never closes its doors,” Chief Rick Bourassa said during the Board of Police Commissioners’ Dec. 8 meeting while discussing the agency’s monthly budget.
Many members — including executives — were working either behind the scenes or on the front lines to support the Oct. 21 operation, while they also had very little sleep that weekend because it was a significant incident, he continued.
“Sometimes when people are comparing our demands to other demands, there are very few places that are open every day of the week, night, weekends, holidays — we never get to take a break and close the doors,” Bourassa said, possibly referring to city council’s decision to reject the agency’s 2023 budget because of its costs.
If the police service wanted to put one officer on the street for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, it would need five officers to accomplish that because of holidays and leaves, he continued. This is a significant cost that he thought was lost during budgetary discussions.
“Because of that (reality of) never being able to stop everything and close the doors, our costs will always be higher,” Bourassa added. “It never stops for us; we never have any downtime.”
Besides overtime, other expenses that continue to put pressure on the police budget include vehicle maintenance and fuel costs, along with challenges of acquiring new cruisers, the chief said.
The budget showed that as of Nov. 30, the police service had spent $272,076.91 on vehicle repairs, which was $52,076.91 — or 123.67 per cent — over budget.
Meanwhile, the MJPS received $809,000 from the provincial government for six police positions for the 2022-23 fiscal year. Bourassa pointed out those positions are not new; instead, the funding simply supports existing officers working in traffic services or with the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) unit.
Since the province operates on a fiscal year — and the MJPS operates on a calendar year — some funding will be used in 2023.
“It’s (the funding) is up about $2,000 per member or $12,000 in total from last year. (So) it’s better than nothing,” Bourassa added. “It doesn’t cover the full cost of those positions, but it does cover the lion’s share.”
The next Board of Police Commissioners meeting is Thursday, Jan. 12.
