BPS requests 7% increase in police budget

The Brandon Police Service is requesting the city approve an additional $1.3 million in funding in this year’s budget.

Most of the seven per cent increase is based on rising salaries, fleet maintenance and the creation of the digital evidence management section, which would also require three additional staff members and one sworn officer, Chief Tyler Bates told council at a special budget meeting Monday evening.

The increase would bring the city’s contribution to BPS to more than $14.2 million. The province would continue to give $7.4 million, according to figures BPS provided.

The requested increase compares to a 5.9 per cent hike needed just to remain “status quo,” Bates said.

“The vast majority of what we’re asking for is just to cover that anticipated inflationary impact of our service and just paying the salaries … keeping the lights on,” Bates said in an interview Tuesday.

The digital evidence management section would provide a storage area for future police body cameras and other recordings. It would save BPS members from making regular trips to Winnipeg for digital evidence and help them send evidence to be used in the judicial system. It would also cover the cost of officers all having work phones.

The digital evidence management portion itself brings the budget raise up to 6.2 per cent, Bates said. Other smaller, “inconsequential” items round out the total request. They include protective equipment, clothing and building up reserves.

Bates said BPS should be rolling out their body cameras by the spring.

“We’re progressing and modernizing from a paper world to a digital world,” he said.

“If we were not to receive the increase that’s asked for, then clearly we wouldn’t be able to modernize, as far as that digital evidence management process.”

Modernizing is essential, he said, as the availability of cameras “enhance the accountability and transparency that we’re after, as far as building public trust between police and the general populace.”

Manitoba RCMP officers started equipping its officers with body cameras in late 2024, and in November said 98 per cent of its officers were wearing the technology.

“There’s certainly the expectation amongst the general public that there’s digital evidence capture,” Bates said.

Bates said the province has made a “sizable contribution” to BPS’s modernization, which helps “soften the blow” on the city. A large portion of that contribution was for the body cameras themselves.

BPS has also been making less revenue through traffic tickets recently, Bates said, adding that it stems from a shortage of officers.

Of the city’s expected revenue of $127.8 million based on an 11.3 per cent tax hike this year, 35 per cent would be spent on protective services, which includes BPS and services like fire, ambulance and bylaw enforcement.

At Monday’s meeting, Brandon City Council also decided to prioritize hiring six more staff positions in this year’s budget.

Council unanimously agreed that the positions should be added.

The positions include two business solutions specialists, a procurement administrator, contract specialist, recreation booking clerk and diversion depot attendant.

“These positions were reviewed through a very thorough process, and it was deemed beneficial to the organization,” Lola Oyeladun, the city’s human resources director, said at the meeting.

The six positions are expected to cost the city $544,364 in 2027. The cost would be lower this year, as the jobs would only be filled by the start of April or October, depending on the position.

Oyeladun went over each position, telling council the benefits of having the positions filled and drawbacks of not approving them.

“We’ve seen staff members come forward with frustrations about workload and how cumbersome it is, and we’re looking to have this position filled to alleviate that,” Oyeladun said about the booking clerk role.

The various positions would streamline processes and take pressure off of existing staff and systems, she said.

For the booking clerk position, she also described what not hiring someone for the role would look like.

“The one big risk is continued decline in staff morale, lost revenue and, of course, reputational damage,” she said.

The costs for each position, which vary between $69,131 and $111,335 per year, are based on union agreements.

City council heard a lengthy presentation about staff labour during a closed portion of the meeting, before voting to prioritize the positions.

Monday’s meeting was initially supposed to be entirely closed to the public. The Sun was told that parts of the meeting would be open less than three hours before it started.

» alambert@brandonsun.com