The Sarnia Police Service will be adding three more people to its complement.
The Police Service Board on Thursday approved the hiring of an interim Deputy Chief, Crime and Intelligence Manager and an IT Technician.
The new interim Deputy Chief would oversee the Criminal Investigations Division.
This would be a contract position between the board and the Deputy Chief.
According to Police Chief Derek Davis, this means there would be two Deputy Chief's with the Sarnia Police Service.
Once the term is completed the board would have the option of extending the position, converting the position to another role or discontinuing it.
Davis said currently, it's not uncommon for senior staff to be working 90 hour weeks.
Additionally, Sarnia police are looking to hire two new civilian positions, an IT Technician and a Crime and Intelligence Manager.
"The expansion of a civilian position is to provide immediate investigative support for work currently being completed by officers," said a report to the board.
The Crime and Intelligence Manager will oversee the current crime analyst working with the generalist teams, which also provides direct special project support to the Major Case Action Team (MCAT) and major cases.
"This position also creates the opportunity to more effectively manage, collate and disseminate criminal intelligence and investigative connections through a central analysis unit," read the report.
Filling the three positions is estimated to cost $275,000 for the second half of the year.
The annualized cost for these positions is estimated at $550,000, which is about a 1.5 per cent increase to the 2025 operating budget.
According to Davis, there is sufficient financial resources in this year's budget to fill that need for 2024.
He said the hiring process will start quickly. The two civilian positions will be posted internally for at least two weeks and if needed it will be posted externally.
Davis added filling the interim Deputy Chief position, which is done by the board, could take between two to three months.