Some new strategies and a bit of luck has the city’s police force is on budget so far this year.
Thunder Bay Police Service chief JP Levesque told the police board Tuesday morning that through the first quarter, the force is on budget.
Overtime, usually the largest culprit when it comes to the police being over budget, has been kept to a minimum so far this year.
Levesque said that’s because they’ve been trying to stop overtime within the uniformed ranks as much as possible. But mainly it’s because there has been no major event that has required overtime.
“Right now something could happen and our overtime budget could be blown,” he said. “It’s usually driven by major cases.”
The police board also heard Tuesday that the new Zone Watch program has 62 applicants. Executive officer Chris Adams said they are going through background checks, but barring any setbacks all applicants should become Zone Watch members.
“We would have been happy if it had been 30 to start,” Adams said. “The response has been quite gratifying.”
Zone Watch is an online forum that selected citizens can use to interact with police to help keep an eye on their neighbourhoods. The applicants will begin a four-week training course next month.
“That training will give them a better understanding of policing,” Adams said.
Adams said it’s not clear yet which parts of the city the applicants come from but ages range from late 20s to 70s.
