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Kelowna  

Sky high housing prices are making it hard for the Kelowna RCMP to recruit officers

Police squeezed by housing

Skyrocketing housing costs in the Okanagan last year exacerbated staffing problems for the Kelowna RCMP.

During a press conference Wednesday, Kelowna RCMP Supt. Kara Triance noted the challenges she's had recruiting new members to the area, given the region's expensive housing costs.

“We saw a direct correlation with the cost in housing prices here in Kelowna impacting our ability to recruit officers who typically come to Kelowna out of the northern regions and who have been able to choose their postings after serving in small, limited-duration postings,” she said.

“We were repeatedly filling those postings from people who had worked hard to get to Kelowna – a desired area to live. However, we were impacted in that housing prices were not affordable, and we could only draw from those who owned houses, who had the means to afford to live here.”

She said they have had to focus recruitment efforts on officers in the Lower Mainland, where the cost of housing is even higher, something the provincial RCMP division has assisted with.

A constable with 12 months of service is paid a salary of $92,000 per year.

Supt. Triance said she's filled 29 RCMP officer positions in this year alone, but there remains unfilled positions at the detachment. While she said she's “not prepared” to publicly state how many positions are currently unfilled, the BC RCMP told Castanet in May the detachment had a 20 per cent job vacancy rate.

“Kelowna is experiencing vacancy levels that are unfortunately common throughout the province of about 20 per cent,” said BC RCMP director of communications Dawn Roberts in May. “This includes short and long-term medical leave due to illness or injuries, maternity/paternity leave and leave without pay.”

Supt. Triance noted Kelowna is the fastest growing Census Metropolitan Area in the country, and with that growth comes more demand for police services.

“Every municipality in this area that contributes to [the Kelowna Census Metropolitan Area] have increased their police resources this year ... increases in police resources helps us respond to the growth in population and the reported incidents of crime,” Supt. Triance said.

“I do not have all of my positions filled at this point, however we're working actively to do so, and have brought in 29 new resources since Jan. 1 of this year. We continue to bring in resources to fill those positions.”

Kelowna RCMP has a budget for 222 uniformed officers and more than 100 city support staff, making it the fourth largest RCMP contingent in the country, behind Surrey, Burnaby and Richmond.



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