Police recruiting axed amid uncertain budget

Calgary's police chief has cancelled two fall recruit classes after city council refused to protect the police budget from cuts next year.

The police service won't train any more new officers unless it can guarantee them jobs after graduation, Chief Rick Hanson told CBC News on Tuesday. The 50 potential officers will now go elsewhere, he predicted.

"We've shut down recruiting. There's no sense going out recruiting people when, recruiting for what?"

There may be even further repercussions that affect beat officers downtown, warned Hanson.

"Would I say today that we're going to eliminate the beats? I can't say that. Would I say today that obviously the beats are in peril, given the other competing needs we have for this police service?  Absolutely," Hanson said.

"We have to assess every position where it is and determine if that needs to be reallocated out to areas of greater need."

Council rejected a motion by Mayor Dave Bronconnier to endorse the police budget by a vote of eight to seven on Monday night. It would have allowed the police to go ahead with the final year of a previously approved three-year budget.

City struggles with $60M budget shortfall

"Time and time again, we've heard from … Calgarians who want to make sure they that they have the safest city in Canada," said Bronconnier.

"In order to do that, you need to build a plan. City council and the chief of police built a plan and now we're saying 'Well, we're only prepared to fund it for the first two years and we're actually going to wait until budget deliberations in November.'"

All city departments are being asked to cut their spending by $60 million in this fall's budget. But even with those cuts, the city is projecting a tax hike of 6.7 per cent next year.

The three-year, $800-million police budget represents the single largest chunk of the city's spending.

Despite aggressive recruiting in recent years, Calgary still has the lowest number of police officers on a per capita basis of any major Canadian city, said Hanson.