Kelowna91Ƶs RCMP Superintendent has assured city council the detachment will be ready for what91Ƶs likely to be a hectic tourist season.
During Monday91Ƶs (May 30) council meeting Supt. Kara Triance was asked what planning and resources were in place.
91ƵIt91Ƶs like the world has found Kelowna,91Ƶ said Councillor Mohini Singh. 91ƵI expect this will be a busy summer.91Ƶ
Triance said the detachment has adequate numbers and is bringing in resources from around the province to ensure proper staffing.
91ƵI was able to share an internal document with our team talking about resources we91Ƶre seeing staffed to Kelowna over the next three to four months,91Ƶ she said. 91ƵThat really will help some of those numbers match provincial levels of vacancy rates.91Ƶ
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Councillor Ryan Donn brought up the issue of the Kelowna force currently dealing with a 20 per cent staffing gap.
91ƵAs you know, we91Ƶve worked very hard to fund, frankly, as much RCMP as our community could afford,91Ƶ added Donn. 91ƵThen I see the fact we don91Ƶt have the people in the community doing that role, and I think it91Ƶs tough for a lot of us because it forced you to make some very tough choices.91Ƶ
Triance answered that the detachment is seeing prioritization from the RCMP national staffing program, and recruitment of officers.
91ƵI would expect to see our staffing rates come up quite significantly in the next 90 days.91Ƶ
She pointed out there are two issues to consider. The funding of officers and staffing of officers.
91ƵThat is the part where I91Ƶve been speaking publicly about is the placing of officers in the positions funded by the city and making sure that we can get to an adequate level of police officers in boots on the ground.91Ƶ
Triance added she believes Kelowna will be on par with the rest of the province to a manageable level by September.
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gary.barnes@kelownacapnews.com
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