Saskatoon police asking for 31 new officers after infusion of provincial funding [Video]

The Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) is asking its board to green light 31 new full-time positions, after the province committed to permanently fund a host of new officers last week.

In a report before the board of police commissioners meeting on Sept. 19, the service’s director of finance Earl Warwick says of the 37 funded positions the province announced for Saskatoon on Sept. 5, they could feasibly add 24 of them in 2025.

Warwick says the police service was already planning to ask for a budget increase to pay for a smaller batch of new hires to contend with increases in calls for service, interpersonal violence and more frequent protests and large gatherings.

“Calls for service growing annually, more weapons in use and increasing social disorder calls provide the framework for the change requested,” Warwick wrote in his report for the office of Chief Cameron McBride.

“Couple these factors …