For the first time in a decade, the Sarnia Police Service is set to increase its number of uniformed officers.
City council recently approved a 2020 police services budget that calls for a 5.5 per cent increase in spending that includes the phase-in of four new officers.
Chief Norm Hansen said the service will have 115 uniformed officers by the end of 2020.
"The first two as far as increased complement, they started in December and are going to OPC [Ontario Police College] in January," he said. "The next two are approved for September, but we believe we are also going to have two in May because of retirement, so the hiring process in constant."
In 1991, when the amalgamation of the Sarnia and Clearwater police services occurred, the uniformed complement of the new organization was 119.
During the next seven years, the complement was reduced to 106, before five constables were hired through the Ontario Government’s Community Policing Partnerships Program in 1998 and 1999, which brought the total number of officers to 111.
In 2009, one officer was hired through the Government of Canada’s Funding Recruitment Program, bringing the service’s complement to 112 officers -- it was then reduced to 111 officers in 2012, where it remained for eight years.