Concerns about how we’re policed and the cost of policing are on the municipal radar

Ontario has the highest policing costs of any other province in Canada and it’s simply becoming unsustainable.

That is the message from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, which is pushing for reform along with Muskoka’s own municipal representatives.

It costs approximately $150,000 a year to put a police officer on the street

AMO president Gary McNamara was recently before the District of Muskoka mayors’ committee talking about the need to modernize policing in Ontario.

“He pointed out that basically one police officer on the street costs a municipality about $150,000. And so AMO is arguing that we have no say in how we’re policed, we have no say in the complement of police, we have no say in how we pay for police. The province sets the rules, the province sets the standard, they negotiate the contract and just send us a bill in a very arbitrary fashion,” said Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison. “We’re arguing that we need to have more say in how we’re policed.

AMO’s policing modernization report, as presented to the mayors’ committee by McNamara, makes several recommendations including greater public oversight, the ability to use trained civilians for certain police functions as well as the use of technology, such as surveillance cameras, to aid in policing. It also speaks to the importance of public trust in police and the need for police to work cohesively with other community agencies tasked with public safety – especially as it pertains to community mental health issues.

Better education for police

The report also speaks to police education and qualifications, especially as it pertains to new recruits who should be required to have more than just a high school diploma.

Such qualifications could include specialised disciplines of relevance to the
needs of police services or a general arts education. Certainly exceptions can be made for exceptional individuals, but base qualification should be enhanced to include post secondary education.Association of Municipalities of Ontario Policing Modernization Report.

According to the same report, OPP negotiated wages increased by a minimum of 13.55 per cent between 2010 and 2014, making wages the highest component of police costs. In Muskoka, policing costs went up by an estimated 12 per cent between 2010 and 2014 from an estimated $9.12 million in 2010 to approximately $10.14 million in 2014.

Policing costs are becoming unaffordable

“The reality is, particularly in Muskoka, we have a lot of folks quite frankly who are very comfortable in life but we also have a great number of people who are at risk and then a large cull in the middle class who are just poking away. They’re keeping themselves ahead of things and the increase… in policing costs alone and with hydro costs and with all those other things that happen – it’s stretching their ability (to pay) and sooner or later we’re going to find ourselves in a quandary,” said Muskoka District Chair John Klinck.

According to Klinck, the increased costs are also driving a wedge between Muskoka’s six member municipalities.

“We know that the three towns have more calls for service than the townships and yet the townships are going to be faced with paying more money, so that’s a basic inequity in cost and value received.” Klinck did say arguments exist on both sides of that equation “There is a lot of infrastructure within Muskoka that the towns offer to the townships and the township residents take advantage of that. We just need to weigh it all out.”

He said “the shame of it all is it quite frankly drives a wedge between the members of council who represent either a town or a township on an issue that is beyond our control.”

Municipal representatives, such as Klinck, whose municipalities are left carrying a large burden of the increase through the taxation of properties, are questioning the rise in policing costs.

Why is the cost of policing on the rise?

Klinck used Muskoka Victim Services as an example. The organization, which is funded by the proceeds of crime through victim surcharges imposed on convicted offenders at the time of sentencing, is experiencing cutbacks.

“We have a huge increase in policing (costs) in Muskoka, that’s to protect everybody, but those who are a victim of crime, those that have been affected by crime, the people that support them, Victim Services, they’re being cut back and it just seems to me to be a disconnect,” he said.

If the pool of money is being reduced from the proceeds of crime you would think then crime must be going down, why does policing keep going up?District of Muskoka Chair John Klinck

Klinck said every time there is an arbitrated settlement between police unions and the province, every other municipality finds itself dragged along to meet that level of compensation. “There’s no reference to a community’s ability to pay,” he noted.

The province’s cost allocation

Adding to the burden in Muskoka is a change in the way the province allocates policing costs, putting a new emphasis on a per household basis – which includes seasonal households.

When it comes to services the municipality is paying for, the province is very happy to say you’re going to pay for it based on all the households, seasonal and permanent, in your area. When it comes to services the province is paying for, they don’t want to talk about our seasonal residents. They just want to talk about permanent population.Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison

“Muskoka is getting screwed royally by the province on every single file,” he added.

Policing review required

Norm Miller, Member of Provincial Parliament for Parry Sound-Muskoka, said the way the province allocates costs seems to be a “done deal,” but overall efficiency in policing still needs to be addressed.

Just being cost effective in the way they do their job. Whether people are being paid overtime, how they’re allocating their resources… just really trying to make it more efficient, almost the way you would with a business.Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller

Miller said that while public safety is paramount, one of the things that should be looked at is the standards required for policing. “Perhaps we don’t need quite as much policing as we have. That would be one way of trying to reduce the cost.”

Talking about police efficiency isn’t easy – it seems nobody wants to ruffle feathers when it comes to law enforcement in their own community.

Miller thinks the way to get around that is through the province. “It could be that there’s some provincial rules that would need to change in terms of standards but otherwise I think it just needs some leadership, you know in the case of the biggest police force in the province, it probably needs some leadership from the province to direct the OPP to be more efficient and to take a careful look at costs.”

He said he’s pushing for that “in the ways that an Opposition member can.”