On October 5, the news broke that the Town of Niverville will be getting its own dedicated police detachment.
It will likely take approximately one and a half years before the new office opens and locally employed officers are patrolling the streets.
At the most recent council meeting, council awarded a contract to Calnitsky Associates Architects Inc. of Winnipeg to prepare a schematic and detailed design of an RCMP detachment for the town.
The detachment will be connected to the town’s existing municipal office on Bronstone Drive.
Discussion at that meeting revealed that town officials have been meeting with RCMP officials for approximately one year to collaborate on a strategy to keep the town safe as it grows ever larger.
The question of how to effectively enforce Niverville has been a growing concern in recent years, with property crime on the rise.
The last few years have also seen isolated but serious cases of violent crime.
Once the town officially breaks the 5,000-resident barrier, increased police enforcement becomes a requirement.
In the last census, Niverville fell just short of that figure, and continued growth since that time more or less guarantees the threshold will be met, and then some, shortly.
A census was held earlier in 2021, although the results of it have not yet been made public. Typically it takes several months for Statistics Canada to release official tallies.
Therefore, news of the local population growth is right around the corner.
Currently, the town is served by the St. Pierre-Jolys detachment, which is located approximately 23 kilometres away.
Not only is that detachment further away than many residents would like, given the reality of increased crime, but it also serves an enormous swath of southeastern Manitoba.
The perception of many locals is that the current enforcement is too spread out to provide timely service.
The St. Pierre-Jolys detachment covers an area stretching from Winnipeg’s southern boundary in the north to St. Malo in the south. To the northeast, the region stretches all the way to Ste. Genevieve.
Niverville sits right in the middle of this enforcement zone.
The design, planning, and construction of Niverville’s new RCMP detachment is expected to continue until the end of 2022.
The first half of 2023 should see the official opening of the building.
It is expected that at least four full-time officers will be stationed in Niverville, and potentially more.
There are also plans to add various administrative and public services related to the RCMP in Niverville.
