When Kelowna, B.C., Mayor Tom Dyas took the city’s top priorities to Victoria this week, they included social disorder concerns.
Dyas met with provincial ministers, including Attorney General Nikki Sharma.
Among the things Dyas advocated for included more Crown prosecutors and an involuntary compassionate care facility.
However, the mayor stopped at asking for more RCMP funding to help bolster RCMP resources.
“At this particular point in time we are not asking for more police officers,” Dyas told Global News at the legislature in Victoria Thursday.
“We deal with that through our normal budget process and we’ve gone through the budget process at this point in time.”
The 2026 budget has allocated funding for four additional RCMP officers, but according to the detachment’s officer-in-charge, far more are needed to meet current policing needs.
“We require more police officers to meet the service levels that’s expected from the community,” Supt. Chris Goebel said when addressing council on Feb. 9.
When asked by city councillor Ron Cannan how many more are needed, Goebel said more than 30.
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“To meet the summer call response, as well as the front-line call response and to add sufficient foot patrols to meet the need, about 32 officers,” Goebel said.
Dyas declined Global News’ request for an interview to explain why he didn’t ask for more RCMP dollars while in Victoria.
“If the professional assessment is telling us that we need 32, that’s a gap,” said Rhonda Lindsay, owner of Train Station Pub. “Clearly we need to do something. Kelowna is growing and we have to grow with it.”
Lindsay is just one of many business operators where social disorder is having ongoing impacts.
“Broken windows, broken-into cars, broken-into equipment,” Lindsay said when describing regular occurrences.
In the city’s Rutland area, where crime is top of mind, residents also voiced concerns about the need for more policing resources.
“We do need more, especially with what’s going on with the homeless and drug people,” said Rutland resident Shannon Doherty.
“They definitely need more cops in the area,” said Rick Wabi, another Rutland resident. “They have to re-shuffle some of the money, I guess.”
While many agree that policing is only one part of the solution to social disorder and repeat offenders, it’s a piece many don’t want to see fall behind.
“Kelowna is an incredible city and we need to give it the care that it deserves and that is with policing. It’s with mental health support. It’s with dealing with all of our from prosecutors,” said Lindsay. “It’s a full package.”
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