Victoria and Esquimalt councils review 2024 police budget

The preliminary Victoria Police Department (VicPD) budget for 2024 was released last week, followed by a joint Victoria-Esquimalt council meeting to review proposed spending for next year.

The police board is requesting at least $72.1 million for next year’s budget—an almost 7% increase of $4.1M from 2023’s budget—though it could increase to $74.1M if the province overturns some of councils’ rejected 2023 items. This would push the increase to nearly 10%, putting Victoria and Esquimalt, who share the cost of VicPD, on the hook for these rejected items.

With the province’s appeal approval, proposed spending for 2024 would be a total increase of $9.7M, or a 15% increase, compared with the spending used in 2022.

Last year, Esquimalt council voted to opt out of the shared framework with its mayor, Barb Desjardins, telling Capital Daily, “we felt that our community should not bear that burden to help support downtown Victoria policing.” However, this has been put on hold for at least another year.

VicPD’s budget requests have grown roughly 10% each year, with 2023 seeing a request of $6M and 2022 a request of $4.2M. While these increases were not approved in full by councils, the province has, in recent years, overturned councils’ rejections.

In Canada, the average police force increased budgets by 6% between 2022 and 2023, with larger cities such as Montreal and Toronto seeing increases of 8%.

New additions requested for 2024

Elizabeth Cull, finance chair of the police board and former NDP finance minister, called the budget a “unique and sometimes very challenging document” since VicPD’s is the only police board in Canada overseeing two municipalities.

The budget will fund four new positions, three police and one civilian:

• A reintegration sergeant who will work to bring officers on leave back to work
• A training constable
• An Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) officer
• An audit / freedom of information (FOI) analyst

According to VicPD controller Steve Hurcombe, these positions are less than 1% of the budget request, with the additional 6% required to maintain the status quo. Hurcombe cites wage inflation as a significant driver in cost growth.

Additional costs in the preliminary budget include:

• A new online crime reporting tool
• Increased mental-health support for officers
• Four new targeted marketing campaigns to enhance recruitment.

VicPD Chief Del Manak said the department has focused on increasing investment in mental-health support with an in-house psychologist joining this year. In the new year VicPD will implement mandatory annual wellness checks for all staff. These measures are meant to address the recent criticism of VicPD’s lack of support for officers' mental health. Capital Daily’s Tori Marlan reported on the high rates of PTSD experienced by Victoria officers and accusations of race-based discrimination plaguing the department—including complaints to the BC Human Rights Tribunal.

Cull said the budget aligned well with what community organizations were requesting, though in the future, more consultations with community organizations will be taken into account. Cull said these consultations started late this year and were not as exhaustive as they hoped, though she said next year will be more “rigorous.” The board confirmed it consulted with Destination Greater Victoria, DVBA, and Victoria Community Association Network and talked to a number of non-profits dealing with homelessness and mental-health issues, though it was not clear what the outcome of these talks were.

“We’ve only scratched the surface with what the community thought was important,” Cull said. “Then we have the province telling us a whole pile of things they want us to do, which more and more they’re not paying for, which is super frustrating.”

Asking about the four new targeted marketing campaigns, Victoria Coun. Susan Kim says she’s wondered whether the campaign currently running has failed, though Manak said it hasn’t. Rather, he says, they’re competing with Alberta police departments that are trying to recruit officers from Victoria. He hopes these new campaigns will increase recruitment rates further, because turnover remains a concern.

When asked why people leave VicPD, other than retirement, Manak said young officers don’t feel supported by councils when budgets don’t get passed. Councils have consistently approved budget increases each year, though not fully to the requested amount. Manak  said some officers choose other municipalities because they’re worried about layoffs at VicPD, though he confirmed there hasn’t been any layoffs within the department since the ’80s.

Items under review by the province

The $2M in unapproved items that the province may or may not overturn include four civilian positions, three police, building maintenance, professional services, and a body cam pilot project. This would bring the requested positions to 11—six new police officers and five civilian positions.

Esquimalt Coun. Duncan Cavens asked for clarification on a statement in the budget that reads, “it should also be noted that if any of the items considered core are not approved, these expenditures will likely be incurred regardless.”

Cavens questioned what the point of budget approvals were if VicPD moved forward with spending on items rejected by both the province and councils, but Hurcombe said they “can’t not spend the money” on certain items. He cited building maintenance costs and professional services, such as computer forensics and psychological services as two priorities in the provincial appeal. These two items make up a combined total of $690K in the appeal request to the province.

Kim called the items under review by the province “the elephant in the room,” saying she feels uncomfortable backpedaling on items councils already voted to reject. Cull called the system of appealing to the province “dysfunctional” because there’s no clear timeline.

Cull said that next year’s budget process will start sooner and look several years in advance, instead of year-by-year, including a five-year staffing plan. She said she hopes this will ensure there are no surprises when each year’s budget request is submitted.

In its preliminary discussions with the Victoria Police Board, Victoria council said the city faces “internal pressures around capital replacement,” leading it to focus more on its budget increases in these areas.

This could make 2024 a “challenging year” for police asking for more resources, according to the budget document. Victoria council is also looking to redefine community safety, “where policing is an important port but not the only piece of the solution.”

Councils will revisit the budget as part of their overall 2024 budget deliberations.