Nelson’s Police Chief says his department can not wait any longer for a return to its appropriate staffing levels.
As council deliberates budget Wayne Holland says unlike a piece of city equipment that can be put off until funds come along – the police department doesn’t work that way.He says it is currently not at safe officer numbers.
Holland admits the two extra officers he needs will cost a lot of money – around $176,000 alone in the first year – but the city has saved by under-funding his department for twenty years.
He adds these extra bodies are needed even if nelson did not have the mental health policing pressures it also faces.