They're still on the list of detachments requiring some additional personnel, but the head man at the Estevan detachment of the RCMP, isn't sure as to where they rank on that list.
What he does know is that Estevan was not one of the detachments named as being eligible to receive any of the 21 additional RCMP constables provided for in the recent infusion of fresh funding for police by the provincial government.
With just four officers on call now (including himself), Sergeant Darryl Milo struggles to put a positive spin on the situation. But being an eternal optimist, he's trying.
With a relatively inexperienced trio of constables to call on (the most veteran member has logged two years, while the other two have 1.5 and one year of experience), Milo is striking an attitude of acceptance, but at the same time, it sure would be nice to see a couple of extra faces around the table when he calls a staff meeting.
"The local detachment strength is supposed to be six. At one time this detachment had as many as 13 constables and officers. I don't know the history or what happened here, but with four, it's been a challenge," said Milo, not needing to point out that the population, traffic and business activity in the region has nearly doubled in the past four years.
The local detachment has been slugging it out with four members for at least two years, probably more. If a member falls ill or is injured, then a whole new gift-wrapped box, direct from Pandora, arrives on the detachment's doorstep on Souris Avenue.
Right now the detachment calls on Constables Erin Beaulieu, Shaun Posehn and Jason Dickie to fill the schedules with Milo and so far they've been able to provide 16 or more hours per day of active policing with the rest of the time being on an "on-call" basis. Two officers are assigned to cover weekends. The day-time office administration is left in the hands of Cathy Jesse.
"We've been informed that two members have been assigned here but they're both having problems with housing issues in their current communities, then there is the housing issue here when they arrive," he said with a shrug.
"Yes, we struggle if someone is sick or injured," he said, noting that he was off for an extended period this winter, but the gap was filled with a rotation of senior officers from other detachments being deployed to Estevan until his return.
"We do get some relief staff on occasion for the gaps, but it's obviously getting busier and once spring comes, I expect it will be very busy," Milo said.
In terms of Criminal Code calls, the Estevan detachment is one of the busier units in the province, and that's assuming a personnel ratio of six, not four.
The geographic area that his crew has to cover includes the highways, grid roads and communities to the west just around Midale and to Frobisher to the east plus an area north of Benson to the north and the United States border to the south. Milo said the Canadian Border Services personnel do an excellent job of covering most of their mandates at North Portal and Highway 47 south plus the station south of Torquay and call on the RCMP only when they are required to, which is only occasionally.
The International Border Enforcement Team (IBET) is also self-sufficient and come to the aid of the local detachment when requested as do members of the Estevan Police Service.
Milo said the detachment feels real pressure when it comes to the region's traffic volume and situations that erupt from increased flow on the roads.
"That's where the public's concern is being placed. Our highway and grid road travel is significant, but we need a larger presence on them as well as in the rural communities. They all have traffic and speeding concerns," he said.
An operation support unit recently paid a visit to the area. The two-member visiting team arrived to focus solely on local traffic and within four days had issued close to 100 tickets.
"I think they were blown away by the volume. They gave out 55 speeding tickets, 16 seat belt tickets or tickets for driving unregistered vehicles or driving without a licence," said Milo. There were also five intersection infractions, four liquor tickets issued and five drug seizures along with another 10 tickets for drivers using cell phones while operating a vehicle.
"I'd like to get another team in here soon just to cover the three local highways again, to improve the RCMP presence and visibility," Milo added.
The local sergeant said as far as he knew, all the other detachments in the region (Carnduff, Carlyle, Milestone, et al) are fully staffed.
He said that while he has a young staff under his wing, they've certainly matured and reached "veteran" status in a hurry because they've had to.
"Without IBET extending their mandate on occasion to help us out, or with city police and border officers being available, we'd be experiencing even bigger problems," Milo said, adding that EPS Chief Del Block and his officers have always responded when called, something he has appreciated immensely.
"They've all been understanding, and that's one positive thing we take from this experience."
With local citizens setting up a Rural Crime Watch in the southern part of the region, some of the pressure on the police has been alleviated, but when it comes right down to doing traffic stops, drug seizures and property crimes they need to be there and be capable of responding rapidly.
The fact the region has witnessed no fewer than eight fatalities in the past 18 months also weighs heavily on those four sets of shoulders.
"I understand we're going to get an accident reconstructionist here who will work from this detachment office, just because of the volume of work to be done, but their work is out of our scope. That won't be an officer who I can put into the regular schedule," Milo said.
Another positive tidbit he can take from the local situation is the fact that this detachment doesn't have to handle that many personal violent crimes, but they do happen.
In conclusion, Milo said Estevan and area "is a nice place to live. We all like it here, so we'll continue to do what we can and trust that help is on the way soon."
