The City of Winkler is working to balance two approaches to policing, investing in both preventative and reactive measures.

While the Winkler Police Board had requested hiring two new officers this year, City Council has granted the hiring of one officer, while launching a crime preventative initiative.

"We're very happy the city continues to support policing in Winkler," Police Board Chair Henry Siemens says. "We're working with the Police Chief to find ways to mobilize that member to the best benefit of the citizens of Winkler."

He notes while salaries are a growing budget item, reactive policing is still necessary, "that's never going away, but it's very expensive to do."

However, proactive policing programs like the Safe Community Initiative aims to alleviate the growing work load on officers by supporting vulnerable people before they turn to crime in desperation.

"There's a lot of work that will hopefully help our service get ahead of the curve," he says. "And it's not all directly police related."

The initiative brings together a number of non-profit agencies to help identify people falling through the cracks. The city recently funded a survey to determine the breadth of services currently available in Winkler.

"We recognize we are partners in the community, and have to be partners with many different service providers," Siemens notes.

However, with growing criminal files in Winkler, the demand on police officers' time is becoming a strain.

"One of the challenges... is to make sure we still have our members on the street," Siemens says. "That the public sees we are out there... that's important."

A Community Safety Officer program is also expected to begin this year, a position that will free up police officers to focus on more serious investigations.

While Police Chief Rick Hiebert has said they are excited about the direction the city is taking in prevention programs, he notes the need for police officers conducting specialized investigations is growing.

"We made a presentation for two officers, when really we could use even more," Hiebert has stated. "There are so many specialized areas I'd like to target."

While Hiebert would like to see officers specialize, Siemens says the department is still too small.

"The size of service we have today, we simply don't have enough members to have dedicated to fraud or drugs," Siemens says. "But we do have members with an expertise in drugs or in fraud, and we like to use those officers in those positions when they're there."