The North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment will welcome two new provincial members come November.
The local detachment uses a blended model, meaning that the province and the municipality pay for policing services.
The province is responsible for members who work within the City of Duncan because of its small population and rural areas out toward Lake Cowichan and south toward Valleyview.
Mayor Al Siebring found out about the two new members directly from Mike Farnworth at the Union of BC Municipalities meetings in Vancouver.
“We have been stepping up, we have been adding members, you (the province) needs to add members,” said Siebring. “We look at the workload and we look at the caseload and we look at the call volumes and a lot of the call volume is happening in areas that are the responsibility of the provincial component of the blended detachment.”
Siebring continued, “I met with the Solicitor General and he said ‘I have some good news for you, you’ve got two new members starting in November,’ they’re coming straight from Depot in Regina.”
The cost of every new RCMP officer is about $180,000 dollars and this is a good news story because the province is spending $360,000 on two.
Taxpayers won’t be on the hook when it comes to paying for these two officers.
