New Brunswick RCMP announce allocations for 51 new officers

The New Brunswick RCMP currently has 338 members on its force, and soon that number will climb to almost 400. The public now knows where the RCMP’s 51 new hires over the next two years will be stationed.

The new positions stem from the 2023 provincial budget increase announced in April, according to a RCMP press release.

“As you can imagine, there is a lot of territory that needs to be covered here in the province,” says Cpl. Hans Ouellette with the New Brunswick RCMP. “And we want to be able to balance that off so that no matter where you are in the province you will have a representation of police officers there.”

The new frontline officers will be dispersed throughout the province’s 12 Regional Service Commission areas based on factors. Those include full-time members to population (cop to pop), geographical coverage per full-time members (cop to km2), file workload and number of calls per member, crime type and severity, impact of the Local Governance Reform, and feed from district commanders.

The additional officers, once hired, will ensure there is at least one officers for every 1,000 residents throughout the province.

Regional Service Commission (RSC) 11 in central New Brunswick will see the most new officers with 15 to be added in the next few years. The area includes Fredericton Junction, Gagetown, Minto, and Oromocto.

RSC 7 in southeastern New Brunswick, which includes Moncton, Dieppe, and Sackville among others, will see an additional eight officers.

RSC 9, including Grand Bay-Westfield and St. Martins, will see four more officers. The Saint John Police Force and Kennebecasis Regional Police Force already patrol a large part of the area.

Moving west to RSC 12, six additional officers will be brought in. This area includes communities like Hartland and Carleton-North which are currently exploring the idea of bringing on their own joint police force.

South of them, RSC 10 will see one lone officer added to bring their total to 36 for the area. The region includes St. Stephen, St. Andrews, as well as Grand Manan.

“My first reaction is one doesn’t seem like a lot just like anyone would say,” says St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern. “We’re so spread out that the cop to pop doesn’t really work for us so I was hoping for a bigger number. When you’re talking about 50 over the whole province, y’know I wasn’t expected ten but two could have been a bit better.”

Cpl. Ouellette understands some communities may be upset with the number of officers, or lack thereof, coming their way. He notes, however, the new hires will put the province in a better position to respond to calls.

“We are well-slated here in the province,” says Cpl. Ouellette. “Can we use more police officers? I think everyone would say, ‘Yep, that would be great, we would love to have more police officers.’ We continue to work with our partners and the province so as our population grows in the province that we continue to deliver that great service that the RCMP is known for.”

While more officers is a benefit to help with the growing crime rates around the province, St. Stephen’s mayor believes it is only part of the solution.

“This isn’t just a local problem, it’s everywhere,” MacEachern says of the increase in crime, drugs, and homelessness around the province. “But it is growing around us and we are not keeping up to it and until we do that it is just a Band-Aid.

“You hear all the time that we can’t police our way out of this, not saying we don’t have to have more police and deter crime, but we have to find out why these people are going to crime.”

The RCMP is actively hiring for its 51 new positions, which they hope to have completely filled over the next two years.

For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.