Toronto police are asking city council for an operating budget of nearly $1.2 billion for next year.
The Toronto Police Services Board voted unanimously on Tuesday evening to increase the force’s budget by $20 million to $1.186 billion — a figure that doesn’t include expected pay increases.
Describing the 1.7 per cent increase over 2023 as “fiscally responsible” and below the rate of inflation, Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said the proposal focuses on improving several core services as Toronto’s population and certain crimes balloon.
The proposed 2024 budget aims to cover the hiring of 307 new uniformed officers by the end of next year, hiring 102 staff to fill civilian roles and improving 911 response times.
According to the service, emergency calls are up 18 per cent this year. Meanwhile, response times to 911 calls are averaging about 21 minutes compared to an average of six to 12 minutes for other police services.
The budget is also aimed at investing more officers and resources into investigating and tackling the rise in hate crimes, violent carjackings and fraud.
At the police board meeting, Demkiw also gave the latest update on the ongoing spike in hate crimes since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
From Oct. 7 to Dec. 17, Demkiw said there were 56 occurrences of antisemitic hate crimes (up from 18 in the same period last year) and 20 anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes (up from two during that time last year).
Also in the same timeframe, he reported there were 11 reported hate crimes targeting members of the LGBTQ2S+ community — a 37.5 per cent increase since last year.
Among all 98 reported hate crimes from Oct. 7 to Dec. 17, more than half have been antisemitic.
“The Jewish, Palestinian and Muslim communities have demonstrated tremendous resiliency during these incredibly challenging times,” Demkiw said. “It’s almost impossible to measure what you prevent … despite our best efforts, crimes have been committed and hateful acts have been directed toward particular communities.”
The proposed police budget must still go through city council for approval at a Feb. 14, 2024 session on Toronto’s overall budget for next year. By then, the city budget may include contingencies for police salary increases.
The current collective agreement for the police union ends on Dec. 31, meaning negotiations between the board, the Toronto Police Association (TPA) and the Toronto Police Senior Officers’ Organization may see a higher dollar figure brought before city council.
TPA spokesperson Meaghan Gray told the Star that the union expects to present its proposals to the board at the end of January, with bargaining tentatively set for late February.
According to the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition’s estimates, possible pay increases from these negotiations could bring the proposed budget increase to around 4.2 per cent, or about $45 million more than in 2023.
John Sewell, a former Toronto mayor and co-ordinator of TPAC, said that the budget could have been reduced if the service adopted several changes to its proposal.
These included: diverting more mental crisis calls to the Toronto Community Crisis Centre; reducing the number of police at public events by less than half; stopping random patrols; appointing more civilians than uniformed officers to direct traffic and hand out tickets; and appointing one officer per cruiser after dark rather than two.
“These police efficiencies are easy to make,” said Sewell, in one of more than a dozen deputations the board heard on Tuesday. He added that nearly all of the recommendations echo those of the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s recent report.
The 2023 police budget increase was the biggest since the beginning of the pandemic, at 4.3 per cent, or $48 million — nearly double the approved $25-million request in 2022. There was no increase in 2021.
“Policing cannot be a shell game of moving resources (around),” said TPA president Jon Reid in a deputation, referencing how the force tried saving money in previous years through efforts such as redeploying existing resources and implementing hiring freezes.
“Several years of zero budget increases is why we are here today,” he added, noting the “unacceptable” emergency wait times.
Multiple members of the public addressed the board on Tuesday’s meeting as well.
Those who opposed the budget increase said more community stakeholders should have been consulted and the service ought to invest more in social services to reduce crime.
Those who supported the increase said the service needs to improve public safety citing transit assaults, hate crimes and theft, among other safety concerns.
