Expect Prince George RCMP Supt. Warren Brown to ask city council to loosen the purse strings in the name of easing the workload he says officers are facing.
The detachment's call volume is almost double the provincial average, according to Brown, and it's posing a double-edged sword.
It's made Prince George one of the "richest environments" to gain policing skills and abilities.
"After a member had been here four or five years, they have far more exposure to significant files, investigations, interview and interrogation techniques, how to run bail hearings, how to write search warrants - really how to do a lot of things that specialized units do in other areas," Brown said.
But after four or five years, "they become very skilled and very sought after" and they move on.
Brown said steps have been taken to retain members such as giving them opportunities to work on some of the "perhaps more glamourous files."
But that's going only so far and Brown said "absolutely," he will make a pitch to council for at least two more members when budget talks begin Monday night.
"I know we're a big ticket item and I honestly and sincerely appreciate the tax dollars that go to policing but we are very much over represented for crime rate for a population our size and the status quo is to allow that to continue," Brown said.
"And we have looked at the most innovative policing strategies we can, we are very aggressive trying to build relationships with stakeholders in the community who we say have skin in the game.
"We are begging, borrowing and stealing the best police practices we can, not only throughout B.C. but nationally and internationally and we're still barely able to keep our head above water."
