Why a modest change to the police force's budget isn't that risky

The day after the Ottawa Police Services Board approved a budget plan that gave the city's police force a two per cent increase instead of a 2.9 per cent one, the mayor didn't sound impressed.

"I certainly have been very clear that I do not support any movement to defund the police that would affect front-line services or start to see layoffs of police officers," Mayor Jim Watson told reporters.

"The public certainly are telling me not the ones that go out and block roads or have rallies at city hall the public that I talked to they want to see a greater police presence in their neighbourhood, particularly for things like speed enforcement."

The mayor's comments would prove to be somewhat controversial, especially after Watson later appeared to compare protestorscalling for a budget freeze to those who'd protestedvaccine mandates at hospitals.

But Watson's comments should raise eyebrows for another reason: they're grounded in false assumptions.

WATCH | Mayor criticized for comments on policing, diversity:

Mayor criticized for comments on policing, diversity

3 years ago

Duration 2:16

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson has been criticized for appearing dismissive of protesters pushing for a police budget freeze and for seemingly tokenizing city staff and councillors of colour.

Anyone listening to or reading the mayor's comments might think the budget reduction could lead to police staff layoffs. But that's not true. In fact, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) is set to grow next year.

Both the board chair, Coun. Diane Deans, and a police official confirmed that not only will the service hire to keep up with attrition, but they're alsoslated to add 22 new membersin 2022.

These new staffers most will likely be sworn officers, althoughthat's not finalized were supposed to be hired in 2021, but that was delayed.

That means even if a two per cent budget increase goes ahead, Ottawa's police force will looka lot like it does this year exceptwith 22 more people, whose salaries werebuilt into this year's budget.

Traffic enforcement inefficient

The mayor is right that many people are concerned about speedingand want to see more enforcement. Councillors routinely sayspeeding is one of themost common complaintsthey hear from residents.

And while some people may want to see more police presence in their neighbourhoods to catch or deter speeders, it's a very inefficient use of highly trained officers. They can't be everywhere all the time.

On the other hand, photo radar works great at catching the heavy-footed.

According to a city staff report released in October, it hascost about $200,000 a year to operate one of the city's eightspeed cameras. They each generated $812,500 in 2021, and reduced speeding in their areasby more than 70 per cent.

To be fair, until recently, the province didn't allow cities to use speed cameras. Now that they do, why isn't the city looking to expand the use of this technology, bothto keep streets saferbut also to hold down the costs of policing, a move that police leaders also support?

City has to be 'all in' on changes to police

The changes the board imposedwere minor, in the big scheme of things.

The police put forward a budget that called for an additional $14 million in spending, for a total operating budget of $346.5 million, as well as $23 million for capital costs.

Instead, the board unanimously approved a motion to reduce that extra money by $2.65 million. That's less than one per cent of the force's annual budget.

To those community groups who have repeatedly called to defund or freeze the police budget, both the original draft budget and the board's response will surely fall well short of the mark.

Deans herself acknowledges that.

"This seems modest," she told CBC. "It seems to me it's signaling that change is coming, that we believe that change is necessary and that we're going to go down that path."

WATCH | How the board chair sees the budget:

Budget proposal signals the start of a change in policing, councillor says

3 years ago

Duration 1:21

Coun. Diane Deans says recommending a two-per-cent increase to the police budget rather than a possible three-per-cent rise signals a willingness to shift some calls to other social services rather than the police.

Since paying for the salary increases of existing staff costs almost $12 million, a budget freeze would have resulted in layoffs something the board wasn't willing to contemplate, at least not this year.

As for police, they say they've worked hard to find savings. They found $5 million in "efficiencies" to put toward new programsintended to change police cultureand bring in new services that address the city's community wellness strategy.

One such projectis a call referral programthat, when warranted, would redirect 911 calls to more appropriate social services.It will cost $400,000 to set up the program, with the goal of referring five per cent of calls in the first year and 15 per cent three years from now.

It's exactly the sort of program that most people not just the folks marching in the streets have been asking for. If that's the case, why is it moving so slowly?

Deans says that "the social services department at city hall [isn't]ready to take on that big of bite yet in terms of being able to provide an alternative response."

And Chief Peter Sloly makes an excellent point when he says thechanges needed in policing cannot be realized by the police alone.

"It will require a higher level of commitment between the service and the board and the city to come close to achieving,"Sloly told the board last month.

"If we're all in, then we're all in."

WATCH | Police chief says overhauling police system requires co-operation from other services:

Police chief says overhauling police system requires cooperation from other services

3 years ago

Duration 1:26

Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly says changes to the police service cannot depend on the police alone, with social services, health care workers and housing officials all having a role to play.

What could happen at council

The police budget will go to full council Wednesday. While council cannot tell police to spend more or less on specific items, it can change the size of the budget envelope.

Whether that's in the works is unclear.

Late last week, a statement from the mayor's office indicated that Watson is still in discussion with his colleagues about the police budget and that he "continues to have serious concerns about deep budget cuts and the ability of the OPS to implement these reductions."

What the board is actually asking is for the police to find an additional $2 million in "management" efficiencies things like travel and training. The remaining $650,000reduction to the operating budget can be doneby using one-time reserves.

It's important to notethe board didn't pull this number from thin air: a consultant team from Strategy Corp. which included a former chief of police took a hard look at the force's numbers and suggested these savings are possible.

For example, last year, Ottawa police were able to find almost $8 million in savings (excluding one-time funding for things like COVID-19) to cover cost overruns.

Sloly and others in the police service say that asking them to cut their budget by another $2 million is a "risk."

But if they can't, the city covers the cost of the deficit, as it has many times before. That's not ideal and the issue will require more scrutiny next year but it's hardly a giant risk.

If council does approve the police board's budget, the $2.65 million in savings will go toward increasedcommunity mental health support services.

It's a very small step toward being all in.