SECU Committee Report

Study on Economics of Policing: NDP Recommendations for Report

1.               After several months of witness testimony before the House of Commons Public Safety Committee, it became apparent that the main factor driving policing costs in Canada is the ever increasing volume of calls for service.  Police salaries are not a primary cost driver in policing as alleged by some.  What drives police costs is, instead, the growing demand on police officers to respond to social disorder calls.

2.               What we heard at Committee made it clear that Canada must move to new models of policing which get to the root of these problems if we are to control costs and help build safer communities.  A major portion of police calls for service results from the challenges posed by mental illness, addiction, poverty, and homelessness in our communities. The failure to address these problems effectively is the real cost driver in Canadian policing and new responses are required.

3.               Throughout this study on the Economics of Policing, one option emerged as the best prospect to constrain police costs while building safer communities at the same time. The community mobilization model pioneered in Prince Albert and Calgary focuses community and police resources on the high volume of calls for service in the social disorder category.  This model promotes collaboration between police, education, social services, health agencies, and probation and parole to develop specific response plans for individuals and families at greatest risk of violence to themselves and others and for those who generate inordinate calls for police service.

4.               Implementing this community mobilization model has resulted in a sharp decline in calls for service, a drop in crime, and a rise in police morale as more time becomes available for crime prevention, combatting organized crime, and other core police responsibilities.  Coordination between police and other community agencies has allowed resources to be used more effectively by all agencies and has produced immediate results in terms of reducing demand for police services and in reducing crime.

5.               The Committee also heard disturbing testimony about the fragility of police services in many aboriginal communities.  First Nations leaders emphasized the positive record of culturally appropriate policing, but the chronic shortage of resources available to meet policing needs in First Nations communities.  As in any community, First Nations police services need stable and secure funding.  The committee heard from several First Nations Police Chiefs that the federal government must begin by honouring the spirit of tri-partite agreements and sit down to negotiate new arrangements with First Nations as full partners.  This means putting an end to squabbling between the federal and provincial governments over who is responsible and who will pay, while policing services remain critically inadequate in many First Nations communities.

6.               The practice of downloading policing responsibilities and costs to municipalities is also burdening local police forces and requiring them to do ever more with increasingly fewer resources. New Democrats believe evidence from Committee visits show that governments must avoid across the board cuts like those seen in the US and the UK.  These cuts have resulted in layoffs of officers and reductions in service to the point where police have virtually abandoned many crime prevention and enforcement activities.  Instead their reduced capacity means that police can respond only to the most serious crimes and must often leave citizens on their own when it comes to many other offences.

7.               The committee heard testimony from the UK and from other Canadian and US police services about using civilians and volunteers for police functions often described as not requiring uniformed officers.  However, it is clear that most police services in Canada are already well down this road and will quickly reach the limits of savings that can safely be achieved through using lower paid, lesser trained and less accountable personnel safely.  Private provision of policing services also raises significant issues with regard to accountability for the exercise of police powers in service of private interests.  New Democrats do however recognize the important role of community volunteers and organizations like the Commissionaires in reducing demand for police services.

8.               It is clear from testimony before the Committee that cost effective improvements in public safety can best be achieved by placing a priority on directing resources to crime prevention and front-end law enforcement rather than emphasizing harsher penalties and more jail time.  Police services have made great strides in internal efficiency and should be encouraged to do more.  At the same time reforms in our court system are needed to reduce the existing inefficiencies in the use of police time and resources.

9.               Testimony showed that cutting police salaries and pensions are not effective ways to address the challenges of increasing policing costs.   While it is clear that personnel costs are the major component of police budgets, no evidence was presented to the Committee to indicate that the increased costs for employee compensation are one of the major cost drivers in policing. Nor was any evidence presented that police salaries are out of line with others with similar professional responsibilities and/ or levels of risk. It is false economy to presume that reductions in police salaries or numbers of police can achieve real savings while still continuing to keep communities safe.

10.           The federal government must play a leadership role in tackling the problem of sustainability of police funding, both as the senior level of government and a major provider of policing services.  The police officer recruitment fund was a good example of leadership and many witnesses expressed their frustration with the termination of this fund.

11.           New Democrats believe the federal government should immediately assume a new leadership role in policing by creating pilot and transitional projects that would apply the community mobilization model in new communities and new contexts.  Doing so would focus efforts on meeting the challenges posed by the real cost drivers of policing.  The federal government must also make sure that the RCMP is fully invested in the movement towards the new models of policing needed to meet the challenges posed by the economics of policing.

12.           The Committee heard much testimony on the urgency of the task at hand.  We also heard many concrete suggestions about effective ways to move forward and saw impressive leadership already making a difference on the ground.  We believe the emphasis of police salaries, across the board cuts, and privatization of policing services inserted in the majority report by the Conservatives distorts the evidence heard by the Committee. 

13.           We urge the Conservative government not to get caught up in old ideological positions and instead to take the lead in setting a new course for policing in Canada.  One key message has emerged from the House of Common Public Safety Committee study into the Economics of Policing.  That message is that we must focus on the real cost drivers in policing in Canada which are mental health, addictions, poverty, and homelessness.  Using homegrown innovative approaches to policing to deal with these challenges is the best way to help build safer communities and at the same time avoid ever escalating police costs.