This article has been updated since it was originally published.
Bradford’s policing costs are going up, largely to put more boots on the ground.
South Simcoe Police Service Chief John Van Dyke and police board chair Chris Gariepy both presented the service's funding request for the draft 2024 operating and capital budgets during the Dec. 5 regular council meeting.
The presentation included publication of the financial figures, which were nearly identical to what the chief provided during a verbal explanation of the budget to the board on Oct. 25, when they approved asking the towns of Bradford and Innisfil for a 6.9-per-cent increase of about $1.6 million, to bring the operating budget to about $25.3 million, and a 44.2-per-cent increase of about $445,500 to bring the capital budget to about $1.5 million.
Van Dyke explained the importance of an additional $960,176 in salaries to the operating budget, mostly for hiring eight new constables to help overcome the lack of staff, which has led to an overtime deficit of about $150,000.
“We need to hire a lot of officers next year and we have lost an unprecedented amount of officers over the last numbers of years,” he said, noting that due to a combination of retirements, resignations and deaths, 46 of the service’s 104 officer positions turned over since 2019. “That’s almost half of our service and we cannot continue to recruit and staff at this level unless we up our game in recruiting.”
Those 104 officers cover a combined population of about 92,000 people in Bradford and Innisfil, based on data from Statistics Canada, and the chief explained that means the service currently only has 113 officers per 100,000 population compared to the provincial average of 176 and the national average of 183.
Van Dyke stressed that it takes five officers to ensure just one patrol is fully staffed for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mayor James Leduc, who is also a member of the board, said he was “very happy” at the idea of having eight new officers hired.
That sentiment was shared by Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu, who said the single biggest concern he hears when speaking to residents is safety, with residents asking why the town isn’t providing enough resources.
“When I look at this budget, this is providing resources,” he said. “I’m supporting this budget.”
Ward 4 Coun. Joseph Giordano expressed his appreciation for the work done by the service, but said he hears from residents who feel police aren’t seen enough in their neighbourhoods or downtown.
“Visibility is a tricky thing,” Van Dyke said, adding much of an officer's time is spent filling out reports. “We need to get our numbers up.”
The chief also expanded on three proposed new civilian positions, including one person dedicated to writing applications for grants and funding to help reduce the cost of the service to the municipalities. So far in 2023, the service has successfully applied for and received $750,000 in grants for the Next Generation 911 (NG-911) system, according to the chief.
He added that the board already had $370,000 set aside for that project and expects to be able to return “all or most of that money to our municipalities.”
The other two civilian positions include one additional Crown brief clerk for a total of three people to help file reports and free-up time for officers to spend on patrol as well as one person to oversee the service’s new online reporting tool.
All of the hires should help the service deal with the upward trend in calls for service as well as the increase in crime severity.
“In 2018 our crime severity index was 22.20 and over the last five or six years it has risen to 38 and is obviously trending in an upwards direction as we grow,” the chief said, adding that the more residents choose to report minor crimes online, the more time officers can spend physically attending more severe incidents.
As someone who experienced the increasing severity of crime first hand over the summer, Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie also supported hiring more officers.
“I can’t stress enough how important your job is and how important it is to keep our community safe,” he said.
Looking at the capital side of the budget, Van Dyke highlighted the importance of $150,000 to rent more officer space for administrative staff.
“We require more office space. We are completely tapped,” Van Dyke said, noting a consultant’s report determined the service needs an additional 3,300 sq. ft. (306 sq m) of space immediately, which is expected to grow to 5,200 sq. ft. (483 sq m) of space over the next 10 years.
As the south division has no room for expansion and the north division building has no more room for parking, the service plans to lease 6,000 sq. ft. (557 sq m) of space from InnPower “at a very reasonable rate.”
By moving administrative staff into the newly leased space, Van Dyke expects to free up space for more officers in both the north and south division buildings.
Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott asked what the long-term solution would be if the south division building is essentially out of space, and Gariepy said the board is still considering its options while the rental space provides a five-year window to figure out what to do next.
The service also expects to spend about $76,000 to replace old property lockers, used to store evidence, with new lockers which use a key code system to ensure everything is properly secure.
“Continuity of evidence is extremely important,” Van Dyke said.
For more details on the costs included in the budget, see our previous coverage.
Council will consider the police service’s funding request as part of the budget discussions planned for the second week of January.
