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3 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,January 24,2019 w aterloochronicle.ca Waterloo regional po- lice Chief Bryan Larkin will get his wish to hire 47 new officers to meet in- creasing demands and re- duce overtime and absen- teeism rates, but will have to find $1 million in cuts in other areas first. After several kicks at the can to finalize a 2019 operating budget, Water- loo Regional Police Servic- es board members ap- proved a pared down bud- get Wednesday, totalling $169.5 million, a total fig- ure reduced from the $170.6-million budget the chief recommended in De- cember. The budget, which still needs to be approved as part of the Region of Water- loo's overall budget in mid- February, calls for a one per cent net tax rate for the region, costing average households about $644. In an impassioned plea to board members, Larkin remained firm the service desperately needs to add the full-time police officers to be able to continue ad- dressing growing demands in the community, but also for the sake of the wellness of its members. "I want to make an ap- peal to the board that I'm certainly prepared to look at operational efficiencies, but I truly believe, and I continue to hold firm that we need to add resources." The region is growing and so is the demand on po- licing, maintains Larkin, due to increases in violent crime and the region's overwhelming opioid cri- sis. The service's comple- ment of officers, especially front-line patrol teams, have been impacted, stretched too thinly for too long, said the chief, result- ing in increasing absentee- ism and subsequent over- time rates. "I have an obligation to our members. They are working hard. They are working extensively. I am stretching them to the lim- its. We, as a community, are stretching them to the limits." The service, which has found efficiencies in recent years by expanding civil positions, hasn't requested to hire many new officers in the last six years. It's now time, said Lar- kin, not just to increase po- lice presence on the streets, but to preserve wellness of officers who are routinely struggling to maintain life balances due to pressures of the job, shift work and overtime demands. With many wellness ini- tiatives already underway at the service, the chief said the organization is ready to tackle new strategies to better manage overtime, from a cost and a people perspective. Police are not governed under the Employment Standards Act, so there are no limits to how much overtime they can work. "We know there's evi- dence-based studies that indicate you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long and then you're into wellness challenges." The organization re- cently identified its clim- bing absenteeism rates af- ter a report identified 13 per cent of Waterloo re- gional police officers miss working full-time duties or are being accommodated in another manner. Larkin noted that rate is above the industry standard of 10 per cent. Although board mem- bers endorsed the reduced budget option - calling for an additional $1 million in budget reductions - they supported Larkin's appeal for more officers, saying the organization must be candid with the communi- ty in saying it needs the bodies to do the work. Larkin said the service will work to find the nearly $1 million in cuts by trim- ming training budgets, de- laying upgrades to some fa- cilities and by considering strategies to recover costs. Although hesitating to raise the issue, he noted the cost of policing unsanc- tioned street parties, like university homecoming and St. Patrick's Day events, could alone achieve the necessary budget cut from a 1.2 per cent to a one per cent net tax rate. "If you look at unsanc- tioned street events, we're in the range of $1 million," he told the board. "There's your .2 per cent. A million dollars in policing costs a year that we own." Newly elected vice- chair of the board, Phil Huck, said it's encouraging the service is working to find further operational ef- ficiencies, especially when salaries make up the ma- jority of the budget. "It's got to be difficult when 91 per cent is your staffing costs, so to move that needle is very diffi- cult." POLICE TO HIRE 47 NEW OFFICERS, BUT MUST CUT BUDGET BY $1M Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin received support from the police services board to hire 47 new officers. Lisa Rutledge/Metroland LISA RUTLEDGE lrutledge@ cambridgetimes.ca CRIME POLICE CHIEF BRYAN LARKIN APPEALS TO BOARD TO ALLOW REQUEST FOR NEW HIRES, FOR COMMUNITY AND FOR MEMBERS' SAKE "I want to make an appeal to the board that I'm certainly prepared to look at operational efficiencies, but I truly believe, and I continue to hold firm that we need to add resources. - "Police Chief Bryan Larkin