VICTORIA -- Victoria police officers have been involved in two dramatic arrests in the past 48 hours, and their chief says more resources are needed.
A man was arrested from inside an apartment building on Richmond Avenue Sunday after what Chief Del Manak describes as a very violent domestic dispute.
Then, on Monday, officers rushed to the Congregation Emanu-El Conservative Jewish Synagogue at the corner of Blanshard Street and Pandora Avenue after a man barricaded himself inside.
Police on scene told CTV News Vancouver Island that the man was having a mental health crisis and was uttering threats to officers.
“My biggest concern is for officer wellness,” said Manak. “They’re subjected to emotional trauma and what is happening is that there is little time for the officers to decompress."
Manak says that officers are being required to finish a call, that he says could be highly disturbing, and then immediately go to another call and another call.
Now, data for VicPD's quarter three in review numbers show they are below the benchmarks for response times to service calls.
“When we look at our call response numbers for the last number of quarters, I am seeing a lot more red than I am green meaning we are not meeting those benchmarks, which has caused us to start analyzing if those benchmarks need to be adjusted,” said Manak.
In July, the Victoria Police Department asked the City of Victoria for four more officers. At the time, the increase in officers was denied with the city calling the added cost a burden.
Former West Vancouver police chief Kash Heed told CTV News that even if VicPD had more officers, it wouldn't necessairly fix response times.
“How you deploy those officers is critical to see whether you are going to lower the response times," said Heed. "If you do, what difference does it make? Did it make the community feel more comfortable?”
He adds that many police agencies do not have a vital response time of two to three minutes.
“Most are in 10 to eight minutes,” said Heed.
Manak says the reason that VicPD isn't hitting its benchmarks is because it doesn't have enough resources.
“We want to be responsive and we want to make sure on those high-end urgent calls we can respond to them in the quickest manner possible,” he said.
The Victoria police department is also looking at new ways of saving resources and responding to calls. The quarterly update was presented to the Township of Esquimalt on Monday night and will be brought to the City of Victoria on Thursday.
