Chief Says MJPS “Inheriting” Guarding Courthouse Prisoners Stretching Budget

With questions being asked about prisoner detention by the Moose Jaw Police Service chief Rick Bourassa said the Province is passing both the physical and financial responsibilities onto police forces when it comes to guarding prisoners.

A financial responsibility stretching the budget of the MJPS.

Police services have been tasked with the provincial responsibility of guarding people who are in detention for provincial court.

“For us we had been using one system that has been hurting our budget and we had to change that for a couple of reasons,” Bourassa told the most recent meeting of the Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners.

The impact the policy has had is both financial plus taking one or two officers out of policing for a portion of their days.

“We now have at least one police officer who rather than providing community policing sitting in the provincial court managing the people in custody,” Chief Bourassa said, adding “Sometimes two (officers) depending on the situation.”

He said a large group has been asking the Province to change the policy with little success.

“We have asked for years and I have been on a committee that includes the Chief Justice of the Provincial Court, the commanding officer of the RCMP, the deputy minister for the areas responsible to move forward having deputy sheriffs to take those responsibilities on across the province…I have been on that committee since it was founded a decade ago and there has been very little movement towards taking police out of that business.”

Money has yet to be allocated to allow deputy sheriffs take over for what Chief Bourassa said is not police services responsibility.

“In the previous and most recent budget, there was no money allocated for that so we continue to meet with the Province to push that forward.”

He said the committee will continue in hopes of creating change.

“And it is a deputy sheriffs responsibility, a provincial responsibility, but we have … to take that on,” he said.