Provincial grants fund policing positions in Estevan, Moose Jaw, Weyburn

Funding from the provincial government’s Municipal Police Grants program means more money to support policing jobs in three Saskatchewan cities.

According to the provincial government, the most recent round of annual funding will provide $638,000 to Estevan, $409,000 to Weyburn and $818,000 to Moose Jaw. In each city, the grants will be used to support several existing police positions, and additional funding from SGI will support more police positions under the Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan initiative.

In Estevan, the grants will support the Police and Crisis Team, which partners police officers with mental health professionals “to provide an integrated and coordinated response to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis in the community.”

For Moose Jaw, the grant funding will support “targeted policing programs” including the city’s police and crisis team. Rick Bourassa, the city’s police chief, said the funding will help improve safety in the city and across the south-central region.

“This ongoing partnership between the Ministry and the Moose Jaw Police Service advances our shared vision of safe and inclusive communities,” Bourassa said in a statement.

In Weyburn, the grants will support positions in the police force’s Serious Organized Crime Program.

“The province continues to invest in our local police services to support community safety initiatives and protect our most vulnerable citizens,” Weyburn Big-Muddy MLA Dustin Duncan said in a news release.

The police grants program, which supports 143 municipal police positions around Saskatchewan, has been running since 1998.