Saskatoon police look for larger budget as calls and population increase – Saskatoon

The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners discussed the upcoming budgets for 2024 and 2025, with notable increases laid out in both.

A report in the meeting has the total net budget for 2024 set at $121,393,300 and $128,242,100 in 2025.

The 2023 budget is set at $113,724,100, making a difference of $7,669,200 between 2023 and 2024, and $6,848,800 between 2024 and 2025.

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The Saskatoon Police Service noted that calls for service have increased by 32 per cent between 2015 and 2022.

Even between 2021 and 2022 there was an increase of 11,822 calls for service, reaching a total of 135,854 calls by the end of last year.

The police service highlighted all the different types of calls where they are seeing increases.

Social disorder calls regarding a suspicious person, intoxication or a disturbance saw an increase of 79 per cent since 2015.

Mental health and attempted suicide calls also saw a similar dramatic increase over that time period, increasing by 77 per cent.

SPS said alternative measures like the Alternate Response Unit and Callback Unit are implemented when possible, but the need for traditional police officers is still growing.

The report compared the amount of officers in Saskatoon to other cities, noting that Saskatoon had about 165 officers per 100,000 population.

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This was less than cities like Regina (169 officers) and Winnipeg (173 officers), but more than Lethbridge (157 officers) or Kelowna (141 officers).

It was recommended in the report that an addition of seven constables would allow police to maintain service response in Saskatoon, which it said was a growing city.

There are also two full-time equivalent positions outlined for 2024 and three for 2025, ranging from a reintegration position within HR to a special constable working to support tech crime investigations.

The budget will be forwarded for Saskatoon city council to consider once the city budget talks begin.

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