Police budget gets small trim, board says to sharpen pencils and try again

The Waterloo Regional Police Services Board told police to go back and take another look at whittling down its 2021 budget on Wednesday. The latest version of the police operating budget asked for $188.9 million — a trim from the initial draft budget of $189.2 million.

That $188.9 million would have represented an approximate 4.8 per cent increase over last year's approved operating budget of roughly $180 million.

Board chair Karen Redman said she would be "more comfortable" with a smaller increase of 2.9 per cent.

"I would be very interested in if we sharpened our focus and our pencils and maybe came back to have a fuller discussion of what 2.9 [per cent] would be," said Redman.

Police were then directed to look more closely at how a 2.9 per cent increase would affect operations, as well as what an increase of 3.4 per cent could mean.

A report that went before the board Wednesday showed that a budget increase of about 2.9 per cent next year could mean cutting staff by up to eight full-time positions.

Chief Bryan Larkin said he hopes to avoid that at all costs. He said the region is growing and needs more officers now, not less.

"I can't support any regression in staffing," he said.

Invest in community, demands ReallocateWR

Meanwhile, some in the community say the police budget needs to go down and some of that funding should go toward other community services.

Sam Nabi, speaking on behalf of ReallocateWR, presented at the board meeting and said it doesn't seem right for the police budget to increase at all, given that other service providers are fundraising now to make ends meet.  

"We demand that the region and this police services board act on the community's call for reallocation and reinvestment into community social and health services," he said. "This is a transition that is urgently needed."

"We want to see expanded community health centres, greater transit access, a community safety model for mental health and harm reduction. Supportive housing. And many other programs."

Larkin said he appreciated the group's presentation and said he shares many of the group's goals around addressing the social determinants of health.

"I think where we fundamentally have differences of opinion is how we get there," he said.

The board will meet again Dec. 16. Police are expected to present to the region's finance committee that same day.