CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A Charlottetown councillor intends on being front and centre when it comes to budget talks for the police department.
At council’s regular public monthly meeting on Dec. 14, Coun. Mitchell Tweel said he wants the city to look into purchasing the RCMP’s Maypoint detachment.
Last month, town council in Cornwall approved a land sale to the Queens District RCMP for $725,000. The national police force intends to construct a new detachment and relocate its current Queens County detachment on Maypoint Road in Charlottetown.
Tweel said this is a chance for the city corporation to capitalize on the RCMP move.
“This is a good opportunity for the city to acquire that (location) for the city police department,’’ Tweel said, adding that his vision is for an expanded municipal police force, including adding more officers to the force.
In terms of staffing, Tweel noted that Charlottetown Police Services, which is headquartered on Kirkwood Drive, falls 17 officers below the national average for municipalities.
Tweel has argued for years the city needs to bring back a traffic division, a section of the force that would be dedicated solely to enforcing the Highway Traffic Act. It was disbanded a number of years ago. The responsibility for enforcing the act was spread among patrol officers. The department ended up dedicating so many units to each of the city’s neighbourhoods, yet Tweel says speeding in the residential neighbourhoods, parks and school zones is becoming a bigger problem all the time.
The city estimates it would cost $500,000 to reinstate the traffic unit. In March, council gave direction to its standing committee on protective and emergency services to look into the idea of bringing it back.
Coun. Greg Rivard, chairman of that committee, acknowledged the police force isn’t staffed to national standards, adding that everyone agrees bringing back the traffic unit would be beneficial.
However, Rivard added that it’s an issue council is going to give hard thought towards when it comes time to the municipal budget this spring.
Rivard has said before he doesn’t think reallocating the money from another department is a realistic option.
Dave Stewart is The Guardian's municipal reporter.