Sudbury police adding civilians to handle paperwork

Sudbury police are hiring eight civilians to allow officers to spend more time doing what they're specifically trained for—- solving crimes and making arrests, Chief Paul Pedersen says.

"People … call us to report issues that don't necessarily need a police officer with a gun, a Taser and pepper spray show up at the door to take a report," Pedersen said.

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The eight new "community safety personnel" will include people of different educational backgrounds, Pedersen said, adding that one of the new positions will specifically assist in responding to reports of missing people

"Most of them are younger, teenage children that have chose to leave," Pedersen said. "They're runaways as described. There's still a lot of leg work involved in that, talking to their friends, searching Facebook."

Other positions will include media relations, education in schools and writing reports on minor crimes such as small break-and-enters.