Province injects $2M for staff, faster responses at RCMP communications centre

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The province announced an additional $2 million for Manitoba RCMP Wednesday, a day after rolling out a $3.3-million police funding plan that followed headlines about truckloads of armed bandits stealing from rural properties.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the additional funds will beef up and speed up operations at the RCMP’s communications centre, which answers emergency calls and dispatches officers in Manitoba.

The funding will be used to add six new police sergeants and 10 public-servant dispatchers to the communications centre, Wiebe told reporters Wednesday.

The officers will provide “expertise and guidance” to the dispatchers, he said.

“This will strengthen the ability to intake and dispatch the police throughout province,” Wiebe told reporters.

“This is the kind of investment that will have a real impact on how quickly the RCMP is able to deploy, and they’re able to deploy with the right resources, for the right situations.”

Other provinces have that added expertise at their RCMP communications centres, said Wiebe, who blamed the previous Progressive Conservative government for under-funding law enforcement in Manitoba.

A day earlier, he announced $3.3 million in annual funding to double the number of specialized Mounties on the RCMP tactical or “emergency response” team, which is currently made up of nine officers. It’s unknown when the reinforcements will be in place.

This week’s funding announcements follow media reports and video circulating of armed gangs driving onto rural farms near MacGregor, west of Portage la Prairie, and stealing property last weekend.

“People, quite frankly, were terrified when they saw that video and what’s happening in our rural areas,” Tory justice critic and Brandon West MLA Wayne Balcaen said Wednesday.

He said he’s received calls concerned about rural crime and RCMP response times, and questioned the justice minister’s funding announcements.

“The timing is absolutely suspect,” the former Brandon police chief told reporters at the legislature after question period.

“There’s no doubt that the minister is making these announcements because of his inaction on rural crime,” said Balcaen, who also questioned what their impact will be on rural crime.

Beefing up the operational call centre with an additional six sergeants and 10 dispatchers won’t provide more officers to respond to calls, said Balcaen.

“They’re absolutely needed for law enforcement and the justice system to keep moving forward, and they do fantastic work. They take calls but they don’t respond to those calls,” he said.

Putting more officers in the communications centre and doubling the number of officers in the tactical unit will draw down the number of regular officers, he said.

“What Manitobans really need is more officers on the ground to respond to these crimes,” said Balcaen, who pointed to the RCMP staffing shortage across the country.

“We need people to be there on the front lines when people call for help.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca