Province announces $3M for specialized Mounties amid staffing shortage

Manitoba RCMP have been given provincial cash to double the number of specialized Mounties on the force’s tactical team — but due to an officer shortage across the province, it’s uncertain when the reinforcements will be in place.

Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe announced Tuesday nine new Mounties would join Manitoba’s RCMP emergency response team. They will be brought on with $3.3 million in annual funding budgeted earlier this year. The team is currently made up of nine officers.

In late January, the national police force asked for Mounties in other provinces to consider working in Manitoba and Saskatchewan for two-week stints this spring to bolster the ranks during a dire staffing crunch.

The new emergency response positions will be staffed on a priority basis, RCMP spokeswoman Michelle Lissel said Tuesday. She said it was too early to say when the team will be fully expanded.

On top of officers transferring to the province, Manitoba RCMP are regularly receiving new officers from the training academy in Regina, Lissel said. She could not immediately say how many have been hired this year.

“We continue to actively recruit and have a large number of applicants in the process,” she added.

The tactical officers on the team use specialized equipment and weapons, including rifles, to respond to incidents involving armed suspects, conduct high-risk arrests and searches, execute certain warrants and track suspects in rural areas.

The team deploys across the province as the need arises.

The justice minister said the tactical unit is a high priority for the RCMP and that he expects the force is working on the hires.

“It is absolutely a top-of-mind priority, not only for the RCMP but also for our government — recruitment and retention of our officers,” Wiebe said.

Wiebe billed the funding as the NDP government working to address crime concerns in rural and northern communities.

He made the announcement a day after a spate of armed break-and-enters outside MacGregor over the weekend raised eyebrows in rural communities. The events were brought up in the legislature by the Opposition Progressive Conservatives.

“People in rural Manitoba are fearful for their safety, seeing firearms being used… more boldly,” Wiebe said about the MacGregor thefts.

“What we want to ensure is that the response that we’re able to offer, what law enforcement’s able to offer, meets the needs of community.”

Wiebe insisted the government takes rural public safety concerns seriously, pointing to past funding and policy announcements.

“Stable funding, additional resources — this will build on capacity and will build up the overall contingent,” he said.

Tory justice critic Wayne Balcaen (Brandon West) called the Tuesday announcement a distraction from the NDP’s “failures” on rural public safety.

He said the funding is “robbing nine officers from our jurisdictions from across the province, when the RCMP is already screaming for help from other districts.”

The officers could instead be on the front lines, the former Brandon police chief said, noting the emergency response positions will need to be filled by experienced officers.

“So, what’s going to happen is they’re going to need new members to come in and fill these nine positions,” Balcaen said.

He added proper funding of emergency response and other specialty units is important, but thinks boots on the grounds should be the priority.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca