NEW COP OFF THE TABLE

City council narrowly rejects new RCMP Officer

Fort Saskatchewan Record - Fort Saskatchewan will not see a new a cop on the
streets next year, unless council changes its mind.

City council voted 3-3 Tuesday to reject a policing committee request to add
an additional RCMP officer to the 2004 budget. A tie vote means a motion is
defeated.

The local RCMP detachment is forming a plain clothes unit to combat drug
trafficking, but that will leave a shortage of officers to work on
prevention programs.

Policing Committee chair Terry Noble warned that prevention programs
specifically the Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE program would
suffer if a new officer wasn't approved.

Councillors Ed Marler, Tami Petroski and Tom Hutchison supported putting
another cop on the streets.

Marler said crystal meth is becoming an serious problem in Alberta and
police need the resources to deal with it.

"We need to solve this problem before it escalates," he said.

"I'm scared to see what will happen if we wait a year."

The Fort detachment reported a 23 per cent increase in criminal code cases
over last year. Crystal meth addiction was blamed for much of the increase.

Fort Saskatchewan currently has one police officer for every 850 permanent
residents, which puts the Fort in the middle of the pack among comparable
sized municipalities.

Mayor Ken Hodgins felt the current level of policing was adequate.

"I don't believe the case (for a new officer) has been made," said Hodgins.

"The stats don't indicate that this is necessary at this time."

Councillors Don Westman and Jim Sheasgreen sided with Hodgins. Coun. Valerie
Holowach was absent.

But Council's decision is not final. They still have until Dec. 9, when
they're set to approve the budget, to change their mind.

An additional officer would cost the city about $85,000 a year.