‘We could probably use more’: RCMP, Moncton respond to coalition’s demands for more police

Moncton RCMP and politicians responded to an anti-crime coalition’s demands.

Are there enough police officers for the Greater Moncton area?

It depends on who you ask.

Codiac Regional RCMP Supt. Benoit Jolette said they have enough to answer every 911 call they get on a daily basis.

“What we do not have enough is to do everything that’s asked of us of all three communities of Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview,” said Jolette. “What we can do and what we do very well is to answer every single 911 [call] and respond to every call for service. That’s what we’ve got to focus on. Those are our core duties.”

The Enough is Enough anti-crime coalition held a meeting last week with organizations responsible for public safety in the Greater Moncton area, including representatives from the RCMP.

The coalition presented four formal demands to stakeholders and called on everyone present to move to a co-ordinated, measurable action.

Coalition spokesperson Patrick Gillespie said the first demand is for everyone to jointly acknowledge there’s a crime crisis in the city.

“It sort of goes without saying, yet all three councils voted against hiring additional police officers only recently,” said Gillespie.

Gillespie and the coalition would like to see a larger police force.

The other demands from Enough is Enough include transparent public reporting on a downtown Moncton pilot project, a crime reduction strategy with targets and plans on police resources.

Jolette said anybody can ask for anything.

“We’re obviously going to answer based on data and evidence and that’s what we rely on,” said Jolette. “There’s a lot of personal opinion in this as well too. We can give opinions, but we always have to rely on facts. That’s exactly what we’re going to supply back to Enough is Enough.”

The volunteer-based Codiac Regional Policing Authority passed its 2026 budget on Sept. 11, 2025, with a request for 15 additional officers.

However, all three municipal councils eventually voted against hiring new officers until the impact of the 17 new hires from the 2025 budget could be evaluated.

For operational and security reasons, the RCMP does not publicly release the number of police officers assigned to a specific detachment.

Moncton Deputy Mayor Paulette Thériault was asked if she thinks there are enough Mounties in the city.

“We could probably use more. Crime is evolving. Everything is changing,” said Thériault. “Is it the RCMP’s responsibility to look after the people that are on our streets, who are taking drugs?”

Thériault said the city has adopted a crime prevention report, which includes a lot of issues Enough is Enough is concerned about.

“It took a number of years to create the situation we are in now. It will take time as well to fix everything,” said Thériault.

The deputy mayor said part of the mandate of a new council will be to work on preventing and reducing crime.

Municipal elections run in the province on May 11.

The coalition will be scheduling another meeting in early June with the new municipal councils from Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe, and will be seeking a decision on their four demands by then.

Thériault thinks the four demands are reasonable.

“I think it shows that people are concerned. There’s different levels of concern within the community. You have the citizens, you have the business community. We just need to create an atmosphere where we can all work together in a co-ordinated way,” said Thériault.

Jolette said data shows there’s been a small improvement over the past two years in crime reduction.

“Not a drastic decrease, but stability and some small decreases,” said Jolette.

He acknowledged Moncton is a growing city and is facing similar issues to other cities across the country.

Thériault believes things are getting better.

“Yes, Moncton is facing a lot of issues, social issues, but Moncton is so much more than that,” said Thériault.

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