Police Budgets

“Defund the police!”

“Get more RCMP boots on the ground!”

Those are two requests I have heard a lot lately. They are both said passionately and frequently. They also seem contradictory.

But I don’t know if the people making these requests want contradictory outcomes. At the heart of both these requests is a recognition that our police system should be better than it is. And there may be changes that make it work better for everyone.

Discontent with Current Policing

Most people have a lot of respect and appreciation for our individual RCMP members. But they aren’t satisfied with the overall system these members work within. Common concerns I hear:

• Too often, crime goes seemingly unaddressed

• Mental health and addictions aren’t being addressed appropriately

• Police aren’t seen to be focusing on community priorities

There is broad discontent with policing in our community. Which is unfortunate. To many, policing is the most important City service. It is also the City’s most expensive service, and it has massive cost increases budgeted over the next few years.

What’s Wrong?

So what’s the deal? Why are we struggling to have a policing system that instills more confidence than the current one? I’ve listed a whole bunch of challenges here. But one of the biggest issues: mental health calls.

Our police spend a HUGE amount of time responding to people facing a mental health crisis. And this is a problem.

There are often other types of professionals who could offer better interventions. Spending time on mental health calls means that police have less time to spend on criminal matters. And, due to their specialized training and equipment, police officers cost taxpayers A LOT more money than other types of mental health interventions.

A Better Way to Respond?

We need to look at better ways to both support and use our police. And, in my opinion, that means looking into two things:

1. [Partially] defunding the police [response to mental health calls]. We should spend less money having police out on mental health calls. We can do this through preventative programs so that less people find themselves in crises. We can make sure that there are professionals other than police who can respond to crises in the community 24/7/365. And when the police are needed on scene (because someone is a danger to themselves or others), we can make sure there are other professionals who can quickly take over as soon as everyone is safe.

2. Get more RCMP boots on the ground [to respond to crime]. As police are freed up from responding to mental health calls, that does not mean we should be cutting all the police resources saved. Instead, we should be re-allocating them towards dealing with other community problems. We need the police to be spending more time addressing crime in our community.

By re-thinking the role of police in mental health, we have a lot of potential to improve our community and better address crime. And, since policing is so expensive, we may even be able to do that while saving taxpayer dollars.

Not New Thinking

This way of thinking isn’t new to me. Throughout 2019, I took part in multiple consultation meetings hosted by the provincial government regarding the Police Act. During these meetings, I advocated for a number of changes. And “let police focus on policing by creating better mental health resources” was at the top of my list.

This way of thinking also isn’t unique to me. At those meetings, it was shared by many other stakeholders. For example, I heard representatives from police forces and police associations make the same request.

However, even if this thinking isn’t new or unique: it is getting a lot more public attention now than in the past. There may be opportunity to make some great changes.

My Motions at Council

At our next Council meeting, I’m going to be making a series of motions. You can click here to read my full Notice of Motion. But the short version of what I’ll be asking Council to do:

• Acknowledge that we need to re-think how policing is used to address mental health.

• Ask the Premier to explore expanded mental health programs with us. The City and the province have many mental health partnerships that are producing excellent results. Top on this list: Police and Crisis Teams (PACT), where a City funded RCMP member and a provincial mental health nurse are partnered together. I’d like to see these partnerships expanded and built on.

• In upcoming budget deliberations, not automatically approve police increases. Instead, consider RCMP budget increases alongside alternative community investments. Over the next few years, our RCMP budget is set to go up by many millions of dollars. Maybe some increase is needed. But any increases should be carefully considered by Council. We should be looking to see if police increases or other investments will have the most positive impact for our community.

Something I want to be very clear about regarding these motions: if they pass, they won’t be directing any specific course of action. Instead, they will be initiating conversations about police and mental health budgets.

In 2020, our RCMP budget increased by ~20%. And we’re budgeting for a small increase in 2021, and then a major increase in 2022 or 2023. Maybe our current course is the correct one and no change is needed. But when we are talking millions of dollars in cost increases to taxpayers: Council needs to be having a deliberate conversation to weigh police increases against other potential investments.

Join the Conversation

I’d love to hear from you what you think of our policing. How can it be made better? Are you mostly satisfied with it, or do you think big improvement is needed? And what’s your priority: more resources for mental health concerns, or more resources to address crime?

You can reach me over Facebook, at dbressey@cityofgp.com, or at 780-402-4166.

You might also consider joining a community conversation. Next Wednesday at 7:00pm, I’ll be hosting my next Coffee With Dylan event. It will be a socially distanced event at the Muskoseepi Park Amphitheatre. This month, our focus will be on policing. You can click here for more information.

Finally, the City will soon be recruiting public members for a Police Advisory Committee. It will provide advise to both Council and senior police leadership. If you are passionate and willing to be thoughtful about policing: you should consider applying. Stay posted to my page and the City page for details.

Thanks for reading!

-Dylan Bressey