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www.insidehalton.com |OAKVILLE BEAVER |Thursday, November 23, 2017 |12 Halton police present $ 1 5 0 M budget for 2 0 1 8 by David Lea O akville Beaver S ta ff The Halton Regional Police Service Board recendy approved a 2018 Halton police budget request for more than $150 million. It must still be approved by Halton Region. The funding request represents a 3.5 per cent increase (approximately $5.1 million) over last yearfe budget, which is in keeping with the guidelines set by the region, says Halton police Chief Stephen Tanner. "Our budget priorities, as always, are to further develop and enhance our service delivery," he said. "We know our front-line and uniformed people are doing a great job day-in and day-out. We certainly recognize th a t... We are continuing to provide the service levels that we've talked about the last few years." Tanner said some of the major drivers behind the 3.5 per cent increase include: · The impact of a contract settlement negotiated in 2015 and continued growth in benefit costs (1.8 per cent); · Staffing needs to maintain current service levels and programs while reflecting emerging trends and continued growth in demand for policing services (0.3 per cent); · Increase in capital funding/reserve transfers (0.2 per cent); · Investment in the Public Safety LTE Network (a wireless network dedicated to first Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner | Metroland Media file photo responders) and the associated annual operating costs (0.8 per cent); · Other changes including materials, purchased services, revenues (0.4 per cent). Part of the budget request is an ask for nine additional uniformed officer positions. This includes five front-line patrol officers, two Child Abuse and Sexual Assault (CASA) detectives, one Community Safety & Well Being co-ordinator and a Crown Brief Review group sergeant. An additional four officers have been requested, but are contingent on equivalent savings being found in the TTE program. The police service has also asked to convert three civilian jobs from part-time to full-time -- a Safety Village co-ordinator, a Crown Brief Review clerk and a Drugs Exhibit officer. They also want to add an IT specialist for the Public Safety LTE Network and an Office of Continuous Improvement and Strategic Management (OCISM) specialist. Other budget factors include the replacement of 24 patrol vehicles and 39 non-patrol vehicles. Work is also currently underway to consolidate the Milton and Halton Hills stations into a single facility That is expected to take until 2019, and cost approximately $27.5 million. Another $560,000 has been budgeted for 2018 for assorted software technology such as software tools to optimize the performance of the phone system and replacement of data storage capacity for specialized investigative units. Other requests include: · $1.4 million to complete the replacement of Mobile Workstations (MWS) in police vehicles. The MWS system was last upgraded in 2010/2011 and is due for replacement in 2018. The MWS system incorporates the in-car laptop computer environment, communications modems and ancillary equipment to support the system. · $100,000 to replace the engines of the Halton police search and rescue vehicle (Marine 1). · $220,000 for specialized equipment including a Laser Scanner System, which will enable investigators to precisely and accurately record the position of every object at a crime scene. This device will also quickly map scenes at road accidents thereby allowing officers to reopen roads faster. · $150,000 for equipment and systems to enhance an existing backup data centre. · $300,000 to acquire and install video conferencing capabilities at all Halton police buildings. · $400,000 for property and evidence management infrastructure at the new Halton police headquarters. During the presentation, Tanner noted that as of 2016 Halton had the lowest overall crime severity index compared to the communities of the other `Big 12' police services in Ontario. Halton also had the lowest violent and non violent crime severity index. Tanner also said that as of 2016 Halton continues to have the lowest officer to population ratio among the `Big 12' with 120 officers per 100,000 people. The `Big 12' include police services from Halton, Durham, Waterloo, Ottawa, Hamilton, Peel, London, Niagara, Sudbury Toronto and Windsor. Now borrow up to $15,000 with an Installment Loan. 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