High demand for police is triggering concerns over wait times and overtime.

A Winnipeg Police Service financial update notes the wait for help has grown along with calls for service.

“Wait times for calls in the queue continue to stay stubbornly high and this may be an area of concern as we enter into 2017,” the report headed to Friday’s Winnipeg Police Board meeting notes.

The financial update notes police managed to stay within a revised 2016 budget of about $284.5 million last year, once it was raised to cover $3.7 million in unexpected pension costs. Police also managed to come in slightly under budget for overtime, since the number of overtime hours fell to 271,255 in 2016 from 284,120 in 2015.

But the report warns another overtime reduction might not be possible.

“With increased calls for service and the wait time for calls in the queue, additional strain will be placed on efforts to keep overtime down and comparable to 2016 levels. It may be that at current workload levels the service (has) hit the bottom of the overtime curve,” the report states.

The Winnipeg Police Association says calls for service rose 38% since 2007 and were 10% higher in January 2017 than the same month a year earlier. The union’s president Moe Sabourin said that’s why some summer Saturdays have up to 250 calls in the queue waiting for a police response, which triggers long waits.

“When you have somebody reporting a break and enter, where their house has been victimized but nobody’s in danger ... they’re (sometimes) waiting a week before anyone can come and fingerprint,” said Sabourin.

Sabourin partly blames a city council and police management goal to cap annual police budget increases around the rate of inflation for that wait.

“If the city continues on this line of budgeting, the service to the citizens is going to decrease. Hopefully, no lives are lost over it because there may be a time when no cruiser cars are available to respond to any calls,” said Sabourin.

City council has highlighted a need to control police overtime, noting salaries and benefits account for more than 80% of the WPS budget.

Coun. Scott Gillingham, the city’s finance chair, said some overtime costs are inevitable for any emergency service and he commended the WPS for controlling costs well in 2016. But he also noted the city must ensure taxpayers can afford the service for years to come.

“We have to make sure that it’s done in a sustainable and affordable way for the taxpayers,” said Gillingham.

Gillingham noted a change that allows police to file affidavits, rather than be physically present in traffic court, should help cut the demand on overtime this year.

jpursaga@postmedia.com

Twitter: @pursagawpgsun