Hamilton police plan to hire 25 more officers this year

The Hamilton Police Serviceplans to hire 27 new staff this year including 24 morefrontline officers and a detective constable in the sexual assault unit as part of its 2019budget request.

This will be the largest staffing increase in several years, said Hamilton police chief Eric Girt. The board is asking for eight new frontline officers for each division, with two members per squad.

Girt said the serviceneeds the new officers because ofgrowing workloads,as well aslegislative changes around parental leave and PTSD which mean moremembers are off.

The poilce services board approved the budget request at its meeting on Tuesday now it goes to city councilfor approval. The $166.4 million netbudget would be a 3.23 per cent increase from last year.

In the past four years there's been a 47,742 hour increase in total time spent on policing calls whichGirt called "startling."

Girt talked about the importance of wellness for policemembers, as well asfor the community.

Hesaid he supports members being able to take this time for parental leave and PTSD, but it does have an effect on the organization.

The additional detective constable for the sexual sssault unit comes after an18-month review of unfounded sexual assault investigations.

Since 2008, there's been an 84 per cent increase in sexual assault cases, with 548 cases in 2018, Girt said. There is currently aratio of 78.3 cases per detective. The new detective would bring that ratio down to around 69, he said.

• Review finds 70% of Hamilton 'unfounded' sex assault cases were improperly handled

The new hireswould also include two special constables for security at the new Provincial Offence Administration Courthouse.

With more frontline officers,Girt said police couldspendmore time on proactive policing.

The community can expect to see more policedoing traffic enforcement and conducting ride checks,he said. He also anticipatesreduced wait timesfor lower-priority calls.

Girt said the new hireswill hopefully ease pressure on police staff and help with burnout.

Girt said that hiring more members will likely meana reduction in overtime costs, but they would notsee the impact until later in the year.

'Staffing is at a critical level:' police union

Mayor Fred Eisenberger, who was re-elected as chair of the board on Tuesday, said he supports the budget and that itwill likelypass council.

The total budget of $178.4 million isoffset by $12 million in revenue.

Clint Twolan, president of the Hamilton Police Association, said he's pleased with the budget.

"Staffing is at a critical level," Twolan said, and the new officers would be a welcome sight.

"We've fallen behind quite a bit. We've not kept up with the population growth in Hamilton, and changes in workload and responsibilites," he said.

Members are under workload stress,he's concerned about officer burnout, and the service isoften unable to fill overtime shifts, said Twolan.

Twolan called the budget increase "really responsible," but said it's time for more help from other levels of government.

"I think it's time we see more provincial and federal money coming in to help the municipality pay for some of these things," he said, addinghe will continue to push for more staffing.

The new staff would be hired in three waves, Girtsaid, and they will begin aggressive recruitment.

In the past year, they have lost 46 members through a mix ofretirement, resignations, death and termination.

The service hasbeen able to fill the gaps so far, Girt said.

Girt said people on the sexual assault review team asked for two to three more officers in the sexual assault unit.

He said hewould like to havemore detectives on the unit, butis trying to be prudent.

During the meeting, board member Tom Jackson putforward a motion that the boardconfirm its support for hiringanothersexual assault detective in the 2020 budget.

Girt also said the initialrecomendationwas for four full-time special constables at the new courthouse. However, they will re-examine staffing needs once they see how the courthouse is running.