Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht was put on the hot seat by city council Tuesday when he came to City Hall asking for an additional $20 million in next year's budget for the Edmonton Police Service. A portion of the extra cost would go towards filling 29 new positions.
"We're a very expensive business at the end of the day, and we know that and that's why we're very careful. We only put forward 29 positions because that's exactly what we needed; not 28, not 30, 29. When we started this exercise we were at a hundred, but we found internal efficiencies," said Knecht.
Chief Knecht told council transferring prisoners to and from correctional facilities within the city and court is costing the city $1.2 million.
Mayor Stephen Mandel isn't holding back his thoughts on the issue. He believes it's a provincial or federal responsibility.
"We have to send a strong message to the province that we're not going to do this. We're not going to transport people for free," said Mandel.
"Just send them a letter saying, 'look, this is not our responsibility. You passed the law to do it. You pay for it or fund us."
Under provincial law, Edmonton police officers must transfer prisoners. The cost is transferred to the city.
"It's a provincial law that gave us legal responsibility. I'm not sure that that's a reasonable way to do things. 'Well, we don't want to do this; here's a law that makes you do it,'" responded Mayor Mandel.
Chief Knecht says the Edmonton Police Service has done the math, and hundreds of thousands of dollars would be saved every year if Alberta Sheriffs took over the responsibility of transferring prisoners. The numbers have been apparently presented to the provincial government.
"We don't need a fully trained police officer to move folks back and forth. We need somebody that is armed, that has the ability to deal with these people because some of these people are extremely dangerous, but you probably don't need a fully trained police officer because no investigation is going to be taking place," explained Knecht.
Despite the strong statement, Mandel admits the provincial government has been responsive when he's approached them with concerns in the past; something he's planning to do again.
"They have challenges and we respect that. But certain things that we need to get straightened out and policing is a big one," said Mandel.
Mayor Mandel wants to talk to the province about the issue immediately.
Tuesday afternoon, Global News spoke to the Solicitor General who says he’s open to talking to Mayor Mandel about this issue, but says the province has worked extensively with the new Remand Centre to try to reduce the number of prisoner transports. For instance, he points out the new facilities for CCTV appearances available for prisoners on site.
With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News
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