Iqaluit deputy mayor calls on police foot patrols to resume
RCMP initiative with municipal bylaw suspended in spring due to staffing issues
Steve Allen, Iqaluit’s chief municipal enforcement officer, agrees that a patrol program between RCMP and bylaw at the start of the year was a success. RCMP cited staffing challenges for why the project ended. (Photo by Daron Letts)
Iqaluit’s deputy mayor is calling for “very successful” joint patrols between Iqaluit bylaw and RCMP to be reinstated, after the project was halted in the spring due to a lack of available police officers.
“I would like to call on the RCMP to get their staffing numbers to where we can work together again,” said Kim Smith during Tuesday’s governance and priorities meeting. “It was very successful and we definitely saw a difference in the city.”
The pilot project ran from January through March. It ended due to a lack of available police officers, said Iqaluit’s chief municipal enforcement officer Steven Allen Tuesday during a presentation to the committee.
“While the project was in motion, it was a success, but the RCMP was unable to sustain providing a member for this project due to staffing levels,” Allen said.
Both agencies provided one officer each to patrol together daily in the afternoons. They focused on traffic-related offences and public intoxication, he said.
During an RCMP update to council in June, Iqaluit detachment commander Staff Sgt. Vlatko Nikolovski said he hoped to be able to “secure resources” to continue the project.
RCMP began conducting ATV patrols in June as well to compensate after the project ended, he added.
Justice Department policy director Stephen Shaddock wrote in an email to Nunatsiaq News in June that the Iqaluit detachment is currently “fully staffed and is expected to maintain regular rotations throughout the year.”
The detachment is staffed by 26 constables, four corporals and one sergeant, Nikolovski told council in June.
Councillors have long called on the RCMP to step up enforcement of public drinking, with some suggesting that closing Iqaluit’s beer and wine store might be the solution.
RCMP previously teamed with Qikiqtani Inuit Association to increase foot patrols of the community.
Bylaw has its own staff vacancies, including a sergeant position and two officer positions that the city is currently seeking to fill, Allen said.
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