Civilians will 'complement, not replace' police officers, says chief

Robert Keetch, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service chief, has commented further on the KPMG report released Thursday which calls for civilians to take on some of the work currently done by Sault Police officers. 

The civilian employees will be officially titled as Community Safety Personnel (CSPs).

“They won’t replace officers, it’s more to augment and complement the work that’s done,” Keetch emphasized when speaking to SooToday Friday.

“We invest extensively in our officers training…what we’re suggesting is some of the lower priority services we provide can be provided by civilians, which will allow officers to be used with the expectation they’re using their full training.”

The Police Services Board moved Thursday to identify some positions which could be civilianized, Keetch said.

CSPs (two full time and one part time) will be hired in the near future as “a number” of Sault Police Sergeants retire after May, Keetch said.

“With the upcoming retirement allowance, we anticipate a number of vacancies that are presently filled by officers can be potentially civilianized, so we had discussions with the board in relation to civilianizing those roles and requesting permission to increase the number of full time civilian employees within the organization.”

A business plan will be drawn up for the board, said Keetch, to show what cost savings can be achieved.  

While not providing a dollar figure as to how much will be saved through retirements and civilianization, Keetch said “there are cost savings, absolutely, and we have the potential to hire individuals that have a skill set for jobs that are not necessarily traditional roles for policing.”

Keetch said cost savings would be “significant.”

Sergeants, Keetch said, some of whom will be retiring and replaced by civilians, make about $150,000 annually in salaries, benefits and pension.

Community Safety Personnel officers, Keetch said, will be paid about $87,000 a year in salaries, benefits and pension.

“Although one of the goals of this report was to find savings…our report doesn’t revolve as much around savings as it does around utilizing existing resources more effectively through civilianization and allow officers to do calls that require the specific skills of a highly trained police officer.”

“(For example) two CSPs will be assigned to our alternate response centre (ARC) to do some of the work in that unit,” Keetch said.

“We think we can put two civilians in that area to do crime prevention, some basic reporting over the phone and go to a crime scene, photograph some evidence and bring it in to a qualified forensic officer, that’s the vision for that unit.”

A part time recruitment officer will also be hired.

As reported Thursday by SooToday, police will also move to balance out officers vacation time throughout the year in another cost saving measure.

The KPMG report for Sault Police, dated Jan. 17 and officially released to the Police Services Board Thursday, was started in the spring and cost approximately $100,000 to produce.