RCMP Watch

Charles Rusnell , The Edmonton Journal

Days after a lone Mountie was shot and killed while answering a call, city police officers have formally complained that too many of them are being forced to work alone.

“It is a big issue now with this … guy running around loose,” said one veteran officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Our safety is already at risk with just one officer in a car, and then we have this guy out there who has already (allegedly) killed one police officer.”
The union representing rank-and-file officers filed a grievance Wednesday alleging the Edmonton Police Service has breached its collective agreement.

Under the 1984 agreement, at least 40 per cent of patrol cars should have two officers, for safety reasons. That percentage has not been met since May, when a new policing model was launched.

Anger over the situation boiled over at a union meeting earlier this week, several officers said. Some Edmonton Police Association members wanted to hold a vote of non-confidence in Chief Mike Boyd, and there was also talk of illegal job action, including refusing to leave a station without a partner. The union’s executive convinced members the non-confidence vote and the job action would not resolve the issue.

“I have never seen the membership so radical,” said one veteran officer.

Boyd is at a conference in New Orleans and could not be reached for comment. Police association president Peter Ratcliff did not return calls Thursday.

The source of the police officers’ anger is the New Patrol Service Delivery Model, launched May 1. The model aims to have a specific number of patrol cars on the streets at all times to reduce both response times and crime.

But several officers said EPS management was warned there are not enough officers to properly staff the patrol cars. One officer said the number of officers in a squad was reduced from 17 to 11, and now to seven. Some officers work the night shift alone, the officer said.

“Overtime costs are through the roof,” he said. “Guys are burned out and fed up.”

Supt. John Findlay commands the downtown division and is responsible for implementing the new patrol model. Findlay blamed the complaints on a minority who won’t adapt to change.

“We operated under our old system for 15 years and people told us they didn’t like it and we had to change,” he said. “Some people don’t like change, but at the end of the day what is important is the service, and all indications are that we are providing better service with good officer safety.”

There has been no major increase in overtime and squads are adequately staffed, he said, adding there has never been a squad with only seven members.

Findlay said he has spoken with many officers and the majority “are very happy with the changes.”

The public is also happy because emergency response times are down.

Under the old system, it took between 10 and 12 minutes for police to respond to an emergency call. That average has been reduced to seven minutes. Crime in the downtown division is down 24 per cent.

“We could never have done that under the old system,” Findlay said.

He said the department remains committed to meeting the 40-per-cent target for two-officer patrol cars, but he did not rule out changes.

“We need to look at how many two-man units we need out there from an officer safety perspective and from an efficiency perspective,” he said. “There are a lot of calls out there that don’t require a two-man unit.”

But he said the EPS will never put an officer’s life in jeopardy.

“Officer safety is paramount and we will not compromise on it,” he said

One veteran officer wasn’t buying that.

“They can spin it any way they want but it’s our lives that are on the line.”