Some members of the Burnaby RCMP’s bike squad could be back in the saddle in the future if the city approves a plan to add more Mounties to the local force for the first time in a decade.
Burnaby RCMP pulled the plug on the bike patrol program this year to help deal with an increase in front-line policing calls, Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh told the city’s public safety committee in May.
Public safety director Dave Critchley told the NOW he and city council wanted to see the bike squad continue but said it was ultimately up to the Officer in Charge to deploy the detachment’s resources..
But Burleigh said those resources simply weren’t enough to keep the squad going and deal with the increase in calls for service.
That could soon change.
After a review of the detachment’s resources, the committee is recommending a plan to council to hire eight extra cops this year and six more in 2019.
Four of the Mounties added this year would staff a resurrected bike patrol team, according to the proposed plan.
The squad would be smaller (it originally consisted of seven members), but this time it would operate year-round instead of only May to November.
In the winter months, during severe weather, the bike cops would conduct uniformed foot patrols in high-crime areas.
This week, on the one-year anniversary of the killing of 13-year-old Marrisa Shen, whose body was found in Central Park last summer, mayoral candidate Mike Hurley took aim at Mayor Derek Corrigan and city council for allowing the bike squad to be disbanded.
He also pointed to an attack in the park last week that left a man in his 70s paralyzed.
“Municipalities like Vancouver maintain a full-time police bike patrol and add ATV patrols to patrol remote areas,” he said on Twitter. “Burnaby’s Mayor prioritized saving money over resident’s (sic) safety.”
Public safety committee member David Pereira, a space management planner at BCIT, voiced concern at the May meeting over the bike squad being disbanded.
It was, in fact, a question from Pereira about the bike patrol that made the decision public.
At the committee's most recent meeting Tuesday, he was among several committee members who voiced enthusiastic support for the reinstatement of the squad.
“I don’t think it can be said enough, so I’ll just say it. Thank you for adding bike patrol. At BCIT it’s very important as with Burnaby, especially with our natural areas and bike paths and all that.”
Cory Redekop, a manager with the Burnaby Board of Trade, said BBOT members, especially in the city’s town centres and along North Road value the bike squad and making it a year-round service is a “tremendous idea.”
“We’re very pleased indeed about that,” he said.
Committee chair Coun.Pietro Calendino said the reinstated RCMP bike squad, combined with the city’s new municipal bylaw enforcement bike patrol, will “give people a sense of safety wherever they are around the city.”
It’s unlikely the RCMP team will saddle up by the end of the summer, however, since hiring new Mounties is a complicated and time-consuming process.
All told, the 14 new officers will cost the city an extra $2.24 million annually.
“Projections to (2018) year-end expenditures currently indicate there are sufficient funds available in the operating budget to accommodate the additional members,” states the report. “Supplementary funding will be requested during the 2019 budget process to ensure a sufficient base budget to accommodate the additional RCMP members.”
If the plan is approved by council, it will be the first time officers have been added to the detachment’s complement since 2008, according to the RCMP.
