Helen Conway Ottenheimer is the PC MHA for Harbour Main. She says government has to support law enforcement organizations through funding. (Mark Quinn/CBC)
Helen Conway-Ottenheimer, justice critic and PC MHA for the district of Harbour Main says that the shortage of police officers in the province is alarming and poses a threat to residents’ safety and well-being—especially in rural communities.
“The RCMP are struggling to to meet the demands of rural communities,” she said.
An access to information request filed by Conway-Ottenheimer has revealed 94 vacancies within the RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador. The vacancies represent 20 per cent of the total 456 positions.
“When they are not supported by proper resources, this is only only going to further challenge them in terms of their workload that they have and the ability of them to do their jobs,” said Conway-Ottenheimer.
According to numbers from Statistics Canada, the crime rate in Newfoundland and Labrador has increased by 5 per cent from 2022 to 2023.
Conway-Ottenheimer called on the government to provide more support and funding to the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies in the province.
“They’re not taking this seriously, despite the fact that these issues have been raised repeatedly,” she said.
Policing in the province is challenging mainly because of the geography, she said. Officers must travel long distances between remote towns. But one way to ease the pressure is to have an auxiliary program that would recruit retired officers to work as volunteers or part-time.
“The government and the department of justice, they have the responsibility here when it comes to crime and public safety, first and foremost, it comes from the top,” she said.
“There needs to be a strategic plan that is in place — and a real plan — to properly support our law enforcement organizations.”
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