Despite requests from local businesses, there are no plans to expand beat patrol policing.
The Thunder Bay Police Service program consists of six officers working 9 a.m.-5 p.m. patrols in the downtown cores.
Different business improvement areas in the city have responded favourably to the program, which started in 2008 and features officers doing foot patrols, and those businesses want coverage extend into the evening.
Speaking after Tuesday morning’s police service board meeting, chief of police J.P. Levesque said he does not see a feasible way to expand the program.
“We would have to probably double the unit,” he explained. “There is no place from within the department I am able to find six officers at this point. Short of the board expanding our budget so I can hire six more officers, I don’t see it happening at this point in time.”
Levesque quantified the cost of adding the six officers needed to expand the program and the resulting benefits to approach $1 million.
Police Service Board chair Joe Virdiramo acknowledged the validity of the program, and said the board is looking for ways to improve it.
“We think it is an excellent program. There is visibility of our officers right on the street and we’ve had request from different sources that it should be extended,” Virdiramo said.
“We’ll certainly try to take a look at it and improve it any way we can.”
Virdiramo cautioned that any improvements must remain within the framework of the current budget.
Members of the board had several questions regarding potential changes to the program, such as a later start to the shift so there would be coverage in the early evening.
Levesque explained he is open to exploring different avenues to reconfigure the program, but said the program originally started with a 10 a.m.-6 p.m. shift but was switched to an hour earlier at the request of businesses.
He said consultations with the beat patrol officers are planned.
“We’ll go back and have a hard look at it with the help of the officers who actually work the program and get some input from them and see what they think,” Levesque said.
