Moncton City Councillors are questioning the need for more police officers amid climbing costs as members deliberate the 2023 budget this week.
Codiac Regional Policing Authority (CRPA), the police oversight body for the tri-communities, wants to hire five new police officers and two civilians next year.
On Tuesday, CRPA chairperson Don Moore appeared before council and was asked about current staffing levels at the detachment.
“We do not believe that it is adequately staffed based on the engagement process we did this year.”
CRPA noted the force has 147 police officers, a figure which has been fairly consistent in recent years.
Councillors posed the same staffing question to Codiac RCMP Interim Superintendent Ben Jolette.
“To answer just 40,000 calls for service… Yeah, we can get by. And we will do those 40,000 calls for service well and investigate them well. However, there’s a lot of things that we will not be able to do without these extra resources.”
CRPA seeks an increase of $4.3 million or 15 percent from the City of Moncton for its portion of the policing budget for next year.
If council chooses against the new hires, CRPA said it still needs an additional $3.8 million due to inflation and to replace equipment.
CRPA wants to hire 25 new police officers and 14 civilians over the next three years.
At Monday’s regular council meeting, several residents questioned the need for more police officers and a new $57 million police station which is now under construction.
Those residents urged councillors to defund the police.
Budget deliberations will continue on Wednesday at city hall and the process will wrap up with a Special Council Meeting scheduled for Thursday.
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