The Sarnia Police Service (SPS) Board has reaffirmed plans to expand its support teams in 2025.
Police Chief Derek Davis said while there is a frontline capacity to deal with, the police service also has to help support officers in the field.
"You can't just throw resources into the frontline without also considering some of the processes and efficiencies behind the scenes," he said. "What we are focusing on is how we can free up existing resources to go back to the frontline and take some of those administrative burdens off them and put them [on] someone who is more fiscally responsible in terms of the costs and we allow our officers to go back to what they need to be doing, which is less administrative duties, more operational."
The draft budget, originally revealed in August, still includes plans to expand the Integrated Mobile Police and Crisis Team, also known as the IMPACT Unit, with the addition of two officers.
The specialized unit is dedicated to addressing the complex challenges faced by individuals experiencing addiction and homelessness.
Chief Davis and SPS Board Chair Paul Wiersma shared at Thursday's meeting that they, along with SPS Director of Finance Cathy Dam, met with Mayor Mike Bradley and city staff recently to present the budget before it was shared with city council.
"[The budget] was very similar to what was shared online and the meeting was an opportunity for the mayor and senior city staff to ask questions of us," Davis said.
Davis said it can be difficult knowing what the community needs months in advance.
"We've done the best we can, with the limited crystal ball capabilities that we have, to say this where we see the trends. We look at our analytics, we look at all of our feedback from our officers, we certainly listen to our community to address their needs and then we say how we can achieve what the community expects," he said. "The budget is an active discussion every year, so this has been a long process."
City council will consider the draft during its 2025 budget deliberations on November 26.
Wiersma said there will be workshops starting next week to give city councillors a chance to ask questions.