Province picks up $100K police overtime tab

Brandon police racked up more than $100,000 in overtime last summer because of the extra work needed while the city hosted evacuees, Chief Tyler Bates said.

The cost of the overtime is being paid for by the province.

“We did see a significant uptick in terms of our volume of work, and we knew that we were going to experience that because we had prior experience with that the summer before,” Bates said in an interview on Tuesday.

Last year was one of Manitoba’s worst wildfire seasons, displacing thousands of people from northern and eastern parts of the province. More than 1,400 evacuees were staying in Brandon at one point in the summer.

The $101,311 bill the Brandon Police Service charged the justice department primarily came from additional staff being scheduled during certain times and the service calling people into work while officers were waiting at the hospital.

“We would supplement our shifts accordingly in a strategic way, so that we had the resources available when we needed them,” Bates said.

“Whether it be special events or whether it be an increased flow of cash into the community, we made sure that we had the resources available to be proactive in our efforts and to be responsive to the needs of the city of Brandon.”

Bates said the province’s contribution, which was agreed to before evacuations started, was “very helpful” to the police force.

“Having that flexibility to have additional people on shift — to bring in people on overtime when required — certainly alleviated a lot of pressure,” the police chief said.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett also said the province’s financial contribution “helped a great deal.”

“It was a huge benefit and allowed a lot more seamless work, and no additional cost to the city,” Fawcett said.

The city’s team and the police “did a lot of homework” with the province ahead of time, he said, which made them “very prepared.”

“It was definitely a benefit, not just to the city, but to the residents, to our evacuees that had to be down here,” Fawcett said.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the department worked with local law enforcement to help with evacuations and provide extra public safety support for host communities.

“This resulted in extra overtime incurred by law enforcement that our government stepped in to pay for, because money should not be a barrier to helping folks in need during a crisis,” Wiebe said in a statement.

“We responded with a total-government response, actioning resources from every department in order to evacuate, house and care for those affected.”

More than 30,000 people were evacuated in the province during the wildfire season, he noted.

While BPS racked up the overtime, Bates said the help that came from First Nations safety officers over the summer was a big aid.

“FNSOs were the eyes and ears of our Brandon Police Service members at the hotel, at the reception site, in areas where we really need to provide support with respect to a displaced population.”

He said the safety officers helped BPS know when situations were happening and were a familiar face for the city’s new population, adding he would like to see them return when the next evacuations happen.

“I would say that this is a best practice for years to follow,” Bates said.

“We do have a recipe for success down the road.”

He couldn’t say if the safety officers would be able to help in Brandon when another wildfire season forces the city to be a hub, as it would be “contingent upon the provincial opinion.”

Fawcett said BPS’s response, and the help from the FNSOs, are positives the city will bring forward in discussions with the province.

He would still like to make the city’s response “more seamless” in the future.

“There is a lot of things that we want to make sure that we do talk about again. We got away with a lot of stuff — we got away with not having any cancellations on events,” he said.

“That was not without trial and error and some headaches.”

» alambert@brandonsun.com