Police Union Responds To Impending Cuts

The union representing Saint John police officers says it is unclear what upcoming budget cuts will look like.

Saint John’s police commission has been told to make nearly $1.2 million in workforce-related adjustments by the end of this year.

It comes as city staff look to address a projected deficit of $10 million in 2021 and 2022

Const. Duane Squires, president of the Saint John Police Association, said he hopes they look outside their membership for some of those cuts.

“We hope that they look at some of the duplication within management between the police commission and city hall and see if there’s some efficiencies that can be made there,” said Squires.

Squires said the association used to have more than 200 members, but that number has dropped to 134 in recent years.

“With our numbers being down, the calls for service are up, the complexity of the calls that we do and the investigations that we do has not gotten any less on our officers,” he said.

That has led to an increase in overtime and more officers dealing with burnout, said Squires.

“We get that the city has some financial challenges right now, but we have been very vocal in respect to supporting regionalization and growth and fair taxation within the province and within the city,” he said. “The bigger picture is not being chased after.”

The news comes as the police department prepares to welcome its new chief on Feb. 24.

Chief Supt. Stephan Drolet comes to the force with 27 years of experience. He is currently the deputy criminal operations officer for the province of British Columbia.

“The police commission will explain to the new chief of police that there’s cuts that need to be made and it’ll be up to him and the management of the police force to find those cuts within the department,” said Squires.