The Saskatoon Police Service will have to re-submit their operating capital budget with a reduction of $199,300.
Saskatoon Police had requested a nearly $500,000 increase, compared to 2020, primarily to hire five new special constables.

Police Chief Troy Cooper says the Board of Police Commissioners will meet next week and give careful consideration to see what impact the reduction will have on their budget. Cooper says he wants to be clear that regardless of where those savings are found, or where they make cuts to programming, they will not do anything that reduces resources required in the community. He adds the board will find a way to do this, that does not impact public safety.

Cooper commented that he believes the reduction in the budget was not a commentary about policing, or the value of public safety, but a discussion around the economic environment the city finds itself in, and the police are apart of that.

Cooper says while it is disappointing to not be able to realize their plan for public safety in it’s entirety, that doesn’t mean they can’t go back and find ways to do so more efficiently, in the same way the rest of the city is being asked to during the pandemic. Cooper explains as part of the collective bargaining agreement, the hiring of the five special constables will still occur, but they will have to find other savings, somewhere else. What those savings are, have yet to be determined, as the Board of Police Commissioners have until December 11th to make the decision.