CSOs not coming to Carberry by end of year
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The mayor of Carberry says a community safety officer will not be added to the community by the end of year, as previously hoped.
The plan to hire a community safety officer has been halted by some recent changes, including the loss of the town manager, Mayor Ray Muirhead told the Sun. The manager left for another job in Dauphin, and the town has had to prioritize and take a step back as it adjusts.
“We didn’t have the man or woman power to do all the stuff we need to do,” Muirhead said. “We, as a council, just said something has to be put on hold. And CSO, unfortunately, was it.”
The plan will pick up sometime nearer to 2027, Muirhead estimated. Other projects are expected to be completed by that time, freeing up staff to go through the long process of recruiting CSOs, he said.
Commissionaires have been added to Carberry in the meantime to enforce bylaws.
Souris is still looking to get community safety officers in the near future, said Mayor Duane Davison. He told the Sun that the hope is to set aside money for the safety officers in the 2026 budget.
If all goes according to plan, the program would start up late next year, he said.
Davison said he aims to set up meetings with nearby councils and Province of Manitoba departments in the next few months. The goal is to organize a few communities that are interested in sharing the program, and advocate to the province for funding.
“It’s on my list, a whole bunch of calls to make,” Davison said. “I’m gonna try and reach out to a bunch of folks and get on the rails.”
The nearby communities of the RM of Sifton, the Municipality of Grassland, the RM of Whitehead, Riverdale Municipality and the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa are on his radar.
Davison said he wants safety officers to plug a hole in current policing presence. He expects to see some level of buy-in from rural communities because they have a similar issue, he said.
“The lack of police visibility is an issue for everybody.”
Davison told the Sun last year that he doesn’t fault RCMP officers for a lower police presence in recent years. But he said he believes more investment needs to be made to ensure the community does have a bigger presence of local law enforcement.
The mayor of Riverdale and the reeve of Oakland-Wawanesa earlier this year told the Sun they are not interested yet in hiring community safety officers.
»cmcdowell@brandonsun.com