The future of policing in Stratford is set to come with a higher price tag.
Speaking at a mental health conference Tuesday, Stratford police chief Greg Skinner pointed to the challenges facing the city, which include mental health and addiction, as a reason that more money is needed for his department.
“We’re seeing more mental health, addiction, and homelessness,” Skinner said. “We are also seeing more despair and more detachments from family units due to the crisis that family members are going through that can be disruptive. So what we are trying to do is train people to promote and bring in programs that are supportive. The reality is if we don’t recognize what is happening in our communities and we sit back and don’t do the historic analysis then we don’t know how we got here, and we can’t figure out how to get out of it.”
Skinner pointed to the community working together to promote mental health and addiction programs, while helping to deter crime.
“We are all a part of the system and we all have responsibilities as part of the system,” he said. “We need to try and make it better and part of that is broadening peoples perspectives and opening minds, and enhancing tolerance and acceptance.”
Stratford staff and council will begin budget deliberations on November 28, and staffing issues are among the big reasons why Stratford Police will be looking for an increase to their budget.
“Part of our struggle is staffing, and that's related to officers who are off work long-term suffering with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder),” said Skinner. “This is an issue happening all across the board when it comes to policing. What we are trying to do by going to city council is to make sure the people who continue to show up for work and are exposed to the same trauma aren't going to suffer the same situation and be off work.
"We need officers to be working, and to do that we need to support those people but also provide backup on the front lines so officers can enjoy their time off.”
A solution that the chief offered was special officers who would help take some of the pressures off the force.
“We need to bring in special constables to be able to do the non-core police functions,” Skinner said. “This will help keep front-line officers on the front line while taking some of the stress off our communicators and dispatchers who are getting overwhelmed with significant multitasking duties.”
The Stratford Police Service budgeted $12,621,026 in 2023, which was an increase of 4.32 per cent over the previous fiscal year. To put the numbers into perspective, nearby London Police had a 2023 budget of $159,154,606. Skinner says the increase won’t be in the hundreds of thousands but rather it will be higher.
“Frankly, we have a significant ask to council,” said Skinner. “We have tried very hard over the last few years to keep things at a reasonable increase. Unfortunately we have been hit with staffing issues, and 90 per cent of our budget goes towards salaries and benefits. When we have to replenish our staff and cover off people who are unable to be in the workforce, that's expensive."
The chief pointed to the two homicides from this year as reasons why policing is still key to keeping the community safe.
“I don’t want to come to council with a big financial number, but we need the resources,” he said. “I don’t want to be in a situation where our lack of resources has a direct impact on community safety. The city is changing, like all cities are, and we need to be ready, willing and able to make sure we have the support in place to keep this community safe, and keep it from moving to where we have seen other Ontario cities go.”
