‘We’ve seen a decreasing ratio over the last several years’: Sask. police forces await new recruits

WATCH: Police forces across the province are finding it hard to keep their ranks fully staffed.

Police forces across the province are finding it difficult to maintain adequate staffing.

In a presentation to city council on Wednesday, Saskatoon Police Chief Cam McBride highlighted the challenges faced by detachments around Saskatchewan.

“We’ve talked about it within the context of police per population, and we’ve seen a decreasing ratio over the last several years,” McBride said. “However our growth plan, supported by the Board of Commissioners and supported by council through our budget, is solid. Our current roadblock to realizing that plan is training.”

But while populations continue to grow, police forces are also faced with turnover through retirement or resignation.

Sgt. Derek Simonson says at the Prince Albert Police Service, it goes through cycles.

“Twenty some years ago, we had hired a whole bunch of people,” said Simonson. “And those people are, as you had mentioned, ready for retirement and some of them early resignations. So we’re trying to fill those spots.”

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McBride says the Saskatoon Police Service is on pace to respond to 175,000 calls for service in 2025, about 15,000 more than last year.

That means there’s a need to be fully staffed, but there’s a backlog at the Saskatchewan Police College in Regina.

“Our municipal members in the province are trained by the Saskatchewan Police College, which is actually housed within the University of Regina,” said McBride. “And the growth of the province generally has led to unsustainable circumstance where they just can’t keep up.”

That slows the process of bringing on new recruits that cities like Saskatoon need.

“We have the support both philosophically, financially and within our organizational chart right now to expand and grow,” he said. “But we haven’t been able to realize that because of the inaccessibility to the amount of training seats that we need in the college.”

The Saskatchewan Police College provides training for all municipal, First Nations, marshals and highway patrol officers in the province.

In a statement, the province says it’s responding to an increase in demand, and 2026 will mark the first time four recruit classes are conducted.

“Two classes of 24 recruits each will start training in January and will graduate in June,” reads a statement from the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety. “In July, two additional classes will start and graduate in December for a total of 96 recruits.”

But even with more recruits available, there’s more than one option for prospective police officers, making things more competitive between cities.

“We know that the policing world is very competitive in Canada and Saskatchewan,” said Simonson. “So we’re competing with the RCMP and other municipal agencies, now the marshals, to get those good candidates to bring them here to Prince Albert, where they can assist in delivering an excellent service to our community.”