‘Could not meet that need’: Province rejects Saskatoon police chief’s plan to train officers in-house

WATCH: The province has denied a request from Saskatoon's police chief to internally train new officers amid a staffing crunch.

The province has denied a request from Saskatoon’s police chief to internally train new officers amid a staffing crunch.

The Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) is down 32 officers, according to Chief Cameron McBride.

“Our staffing isn’t where I believe it needs to be,” McBride told the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners on Thursday.

McBride attributes the shortage to a wave of recent retirements.

The chief said the ability to get new officers on Saskatoon streets is “slowed by the Saskatchewan Police College.”

“We had hoped for 17 seats in the fall class at the college, and we received eight,” McBride told journalists after the meeting.

McBride praised the college’s ability to train, but said its current capacity isn’t meeting Saskatoon’s demand.

To fill the training gap, McBride wrote a letter to the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety with a potential solution.

“I asked, can we train in-house? One time?” McBride explained.

“We have the capacity, we have the subject matter experts, we have the facility, and I believe wholeheartedly that we could do that in fall.”

His request was denied.

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In a statement to CTV News, the Saskatchewan Police Commission said it considered the SPS’s request but decided it “could not meet that need while maintaining the standards of a centralized training program.”

“I understand it. I respect it. But it certainly affects our ability to grow,” McBride said, noting the challenge of keeping police staffing proportionate to Saskatoon’s population growth.

The commission said it recognizes the pressure and is planning to expand training capacity by 50 per cent — up to 96 recruits — by 2026.

McBride said the police college’s strategy for next year is “very good and encouraging, but that future plan doesn’t address today’s need.”

“I need to reiterate, we do have enough staff,” he said.

“We just don’t have enough staff to give our members the cushion and the ability to do proactive policing.”

The challenge in getting new police recruits job-ready comes as the City of Saskatoon pores over its budget plans for the next two years, looking to lower an anticipated property tax increase of nearly 10 per cent in 2026.

Saskatoon police are expected to account for approximately four per cent of that property tax increase, following a new collective agreement with the local police association that included a “higher than anticipated” salary increase for its members.