Oceanside RCMP officers are being kept busy thanks to increasing population and more complex case loads. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

year in review

‘Different incidents require more time:’ calls for service drop in Oceanside, but work load remains

Jan 27, 2023 | 5:27 AM

PARKSVILLE — The balance of police work in the Oceanside region isn’t necessarily matching up to how the bill is being split at the end of the day.

Data presented by Oceanside RCMP Staff Sgt. Travis De Coene to the Regional District of Nanaimo on Wednesday, Jan. 25 showed roughly 51 per cent of all calls for service came from either the City of Parksville or the Town of Qualicum.

Funding splits however were very different, with those municipalities paying 66 per cent of the detachment’s budget, compared to just 34 per cent provincial contribution.

“We haven’t had any new provincial members in the Oceanside area in a number of years now, whereas both the communities have actually upped their establishment…within [the last] few years,” De Coene told board members.

He added population in the region had grown consistently over recent years, but their detachment of 38 members hadn’t kept pace beyond additions a few years ago from the municipalities.

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Around 200 new RCMP members are slated to join B.C. detachments and be funded by the province, however it’s not clear how they’ll be assigned.

“There’s already been some speaking points that have already come out regarding a number of new members,” De Coene said. “So now it’ll be…back to me to try and articulate who of those 200 and something new members the province is supposed to be getting, why Oceanside should get those members.”

The push for expanding the local force comes following a six per cent reduction in calls for service in 2022.

Oceanside RCMP officers dealt with 12,826 files last year, compared to 13,817 in 2021.

De Coene said a drop in numbers doesn’t necessarily translate to a reduction of work.

“A difference in calls for service doesn’t necessarily mean a difference in actual person hours it takes to get through those files. Different incidents require more time, more energy, missing persons files, serious files such as homicide obviously take more time than your average call.”

New technology however is helping Oceanside officers be more efficient in their work.

A new automated license plate reader arrived on De Coene’s desk on Tuesday, which will be installed in one traffic patrol vehicle in the near future.

“Now it can read the plates without a member having to put any effort into it…and it’s constantly reading plates. It can read tonnes of plates at intersections, all corners, so we can see who’s uninsured, who’s a prohibited driver, those kids of things.”

The reader came at no cost to the detachment and was funded through a campaign from ICBC, according to De Coene.

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