BPS spent $60K on prisoner transports in 2021

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This article was published 04/03/2022 (1524 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What’s the cost of driving to and from Winnipeg from Brandon? If you’re the Brandon Police Service, it’s about $60,000 a year.

At Friday’s Brandon Police Board meeting, the first of 2022, BPS Chief Wayne Balcaen delivered a draft financial report and annual report for the organization’s 2021 year.

Revealed in that report was that the BPS spent approximately $60,000 transferring prisoners to and from the remand centre in its first full calendar year since the lockup agreement ended.

Near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the province ended its direct lockup agreement with police services, meaning they could no longer house prisoners at provincial correctional centres.

This has forced services like the BPS to house prisoners at their own facilities. Though the provincial government is paying for both the already in use temporary cells in Brandon as well as the construction of new permanent detention facilities, it has incurred extra costs when longer-term prisoners have to be transferred to the Winnipeg Remand Centre.

Board member Coun. Shawn Berry (Linden Lanes) said he was happy about a reported decline in overtime costs but asked Balcaen if there had been discussions with the province surrounding reimbursing the city.

“If we’re getting downloaded responsibility to us and its costing us money on an already tight budget, I have a real hard time with that,” Berry said. “If they’re expecting our police to transfer prisoners to the remand centre, we’d better get some remuneration.”

According to the chief, he spoke with then-justice minister Cameron Friesen on the issue, and BPS is sending a cost report to the province but no agreement has been reached yet.

The good news is that the service is projecting a $150,570 surplus, significantly higher than the $14,000 surplus projected at the final police board meeting of 2021.

The bulk of those savings came from those lower than expected overtime costs from BPS staff as well as savings obtained through staff taking banked time off instead of overtime pay. Additionally, savings were found after some training courses got cancelled.

With the rising cost of fuel, Balcaen said BPS would keep an eye on what that would mean for the police budget as 2022 progresses.

The annual report and the financial figures in it are being finalized to send to the province before the March 30 deadline and will be made available to the public after that point.

Last year, Coun. Bruce Luebke (South Centre) brought up the potential of asking the province to review the law that regulates “image capturing enforcement systems,” also known as photo radar and red-light cameras.

Currently, only the City of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Police Service are legally allowed to operate the devices in Manitoba.

With Friday being the first police board meeting of 2022, the topic was brought up. Balcaen said he’d be interested in the legislation being revised but stopped short of calling for their installation.

Beyond just the legislative hurdles, he also touched on the cost of acquiring, installing, calibrating and maintaining the devices.

Mayor Rick Chrest brought up several potential downsides and issues with the idea.

He said the city should only approach the province if it actually wants to use the devices. Furthermore, in his discussions with elected officials and police in Winnipeg, there are challenges to using the devices.

Those challenges include the fact that the devices send a ticket to the owner of a vehicle and not the person driving it when the infraction occurred.

Chrest likened the topic to video lottery terminals — they can generate revenue but also controversy.

“They certainly have their benefits, but then there are a lot of costs and a lot of administration,” the mayor said. “I think that our police services have pressures enough with the demands on their time and they’re getting more demands, not less, without adding what I believe is another significant element to maintain and administrate this thing.”

Another board member, Tim Silversides, pointed to a Brandon Sun opinion piece from last year that mentioned that 87.38 per cent of revenues from photo enforcement in Winnipeg go to an outside contractor in New Jersey.

There’s also the chance the province will refuse to change the Traffic Services Act, Berry said.

“Per The Highway Traffic Act and regulations, municipalities may make formal requests to Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure regarding the use of photo radar,” a provincial spokesperson told the Sun by email on Friday. “Should a request be put forward to the province, it would be open to further discussions with interested municipalities.”

The board ultimately decided to tell Brandon City Council it is making further inquiries into the situation.

The next Brandon Police Board meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 10 at noon in council chambers at Brandon City Hall. There will also be a livestream of the meeting on the city’s YouTube channel.

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