The Town of Niverville is getting closer to officially opening its very own RCMP detachment.
While the building isn’t open to the public just yet, officers are already working out of the new location.
Staff Sergeant Ron Poirier says they are ironing out the details and working on behind-the-scenes operations.
“We've assigned our four regular members that will be working from the Niverville office so that we're learning to see how well the building functions at the moment. Any tweaks we have to do, and we've been finding a few. So, this is a prime time for us to fix any of those little start-up issues before we have administrative staff in place.”
At the moment, hiring is underway for administrative support.
“Once that occurs, the staff will work from the St. Pierre office under a mentor for a few months, and then they'll be processed through headquarters to receive the required training they need to be able to do the job,” Poirier explains. “That’s a bit of a hiccup for us in that training isn’t always available at our demand. It’s a divisional process.”
The team in Niverville will include three constables and one corporal, supported by an administrative staff member once fully operational. In the meantime, locals may already have spotted officers coming and going from the building.
“We have been in there for a couple of months,” Poirier says. “Supervisor has been in there with the constables and they're functioning as normal, as if they were stationed in St. Pierre, they're just working from the Niverville office.”
While the public can’t walk into the detachment, Poirier says officers are responding from Niverville.
“They call in through the normal RCMP phone number to St. Pierre or to our dispatch in Winnipeg and that complaint will be relayed to the officers as normal, they're just responding from the Niverville office at this time.”
As for jurisdiction, the team will focus on the town of Niverville, but they remain part of the larger St. Pierre RCMP umbrella.
“The four dedicated Niverville members will primarily function in Niverville and then they will assist elsewhere, as required. The flip side of that is that Niverville then receives the services of the other 14 regular members at St Pierre whenever there's a gap in Niverville.
“From a public perspective, they won’t see any gaps in service. If anything, they’ll see an enhancement because we’ll have regular members in Niverville on a daily basis.”
When the office officially opens, there are plans for a grand opening event to welcome the community and celebrate the milestone.
“It's exciting. This is really exciting,” Poirier shares. “It's been a long time in the works. The people before me here did a great job getting everything in place. I'm just the lucky one who gets a chance to open the doors.”
With files from Adi Loewen