Kamloops RCMP are looking to add $167,000 to the city budget on an ongoing basis in order to pay for two new municipal employees.

It is looking to hire a Financial Clerk and a Crime Analyst. The clerk is projected to cost $72,000 annually and the Crime Analyst $95,000. There woulds also be an additions $2,000 per yer for training costs.

Speaking on The Jeff Andreas Show Superintendent Syd Lecky says policing in the modern world needs to be strategically focused and these two positions would help. “So we try to target our resources in as effective a way as possible. Part of that is identifying our targets, target areas, hot sots. For example where are cars being broken into most frequently? Where can we do extra patrols? Where can we set up extra surveillance or that sort of thing.”

Lecky says it would be a big help in the sense that the digital world has made things more complex. “Far more interesting work, but it is also more challenging in the work that we do in terms of dealing with the technology we have to use, but also the technology that we have to decipher whether it be computers, cell phones, whatever it is, it takes a lot more work and effort.”

Mayor Ken Christian says these two jobs are needed to bring the officer to civilian employee ratio to the ideal figure. “We’ve added members, uniform members, to the detachment over the last few of years significantly and now we need to catch up by adding to the number of municipal employees that assist those officers in doing their job. So that’s pretty much a no-brainer.”

It is recommended that Council approve allowing Administration to maintain the ratio between RCMP members and municipal support at a level range of 1:2.40 to 1:2.46.

Listen to the full segment with Superintendent Lecky below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-965676831/jeff-andreas-show-syd-lecky-jan-31