‘It keeps me up at night’: Port Moody Police chief says force suffering from severe officer shortage

The Port Moody Police Department (PMPD) is dealing with an “unprecedented” vacancy rate, according to Chief David Fleugel.

Fleugel spoke on the department’s recruitment and retention woes during a police board presentation to the city’s finance committee, which sought a 9.8 percent ($1,460,000) increase to PMPD’s annual budget.

“I am very concerned about this . . . we have lost a huge number of officers.” he said. “Our vacancy rate . . . is as high as I’ve ever seen it, and it keeps me up at night.”

Aggressive poaching by the new Surrey Police Service (SPS) and other law enforcement agencies, as well as officers retiring or moving away are all drivers of the vacancy rate, board members said. 

They detailed how over the last five years, the department has seen a turnover rate of 74 percent, with 39 out 53 officers leaving the force. And while the PMPD was fortunate to be able to hire 31 replacement officers, the drain has had a significant impact on its resources.

“The cost of losing one police officer is high, both financially and operationally,” Fleugel said. “Can you imagine the pressure it puts on our trainers and our staff to actually onboard 31 people?”

Board members added that in the last six months seven officers have either retired or left for jobs on another department; while over the last five years, nine officers (17 percent) have taken positions with the SPS.

Despite the PMPD’s reputation and culture, Fleugel said there is a risk of losing even more.

“The reality is, in this labor environment, it’s very difficult to find people that want to do a very difficult job with horrible hours,” he said. “It’s very taxing, both on the trauma side, on the physical side, on the mental side.”

He noted establishment of the SPS, which will eventually require 1,000 officers, is also straining the education streams for new recruits, Fleugel said.

All municipal officers receive their training through the New Westminster’s Justice Institute of BC (JIBC), but Fleugel said there currently exists an: “intense pressure to get seats.”

“It puts us at a severe disadvantage,” he said. “Our plan now requires additional recruitment to fill ongoing vacancies.”

Board member Manjit Aujla said retaining its existing staff and hiring experienced officers has become PMPD’s “number one priority.”

“There’s a critical shortage of policing across the province and on a national scale, as we have never seen before,” Aujla said. “Without adequate personnel, we simply cannot operate effectively and efficiently.”

The department has hired an external consultant to create an official recruitment strategy. 

In the 2025 budget, the force wants to spend an additional $30,000 on recruitment costs, as well as an additional $48,750 in training costs at the JIBC to increase its annual number of recruits from three to five.

It is also re-instituting its volunteer reserve constable program after a 20-year hiatus, hoping it will serve as another recruiting pipeline.

A recruitment website has also been set up.

Overtime cost impacts on the PMPD’s operating budget and are a direct and unavoidable consequence of these vacancies, as the department is required to maintain minimum staffing levels. 

“It’s not my intention to backfill vacant positions with the use of overtime. It’s extremely expensive, and it’s really hard on the staff,” he said. “They don’t want any more overtime.”

PMPD is also facing a critical shortage in its IT department, and its budget report requested an increase of $119,539 for additional positions.

Aujla said the current IT team is composed of just two employees, and is working in an increasingly complex environment, dealing with cyber-security measures, advanced data analytics, digital evidence management, and cloud management.

“We no longer have the capacity or manpower to handle the work volumes that we’re experiencing,” she said, adding that delays are occurring in important tasks. “The IT team just can’t keep up.”

Fleugel said the IT department has not had a budget increase in 17 years, and are no longer able to manage risks to keep PMPD’s systems free from attack.