$88-million Regina police budget approved by council

The Regina Police Service (RPS) budget took center stage for a significant portion of Regina City Council’s special budget meeting on Tuesday.

Council ultimately voted in favour of contributing $78 million to the $88 million RPS operating budget.

This represents a 3.1 per cent increase over the previous year and more than $3 million in spending.

The approved police budget also includes special capital costs, such as purchasing the old Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) depot and $375,000 for a tactical armoured vehicle. Total capital costs for the police budget are just shy of $5 million this year.

While being asked questions about why police need the vehicle, Chief Evan Bray said that while the crime rate in Regina is going down, high-risk calls involving weapons and drugs are rising.

“We’re seeing on a daily basis, and I mean daily basis, guns being seized in our city and in our community, and not only that but being used in a violent way against citizens of our city,” Bray said.

Currently, for a call like an armed standoff, the RPS is able to borrow the RCMP’s armoured vehicle if it’s available. Bray said it was used 19 times last year, and requested over 30 times.

Councillor Sharron Bryce asked Bray what this vehicle does for police response times for high-risk calls. The police chief said when they can use a tactical vehicle, they are able to drive right up to the door of a home and secure the scene. This cuts standoff time down to just minutes instead of eight to 12 hours.

Bray said that time difference significantly cuts down on overtime costs, and savings can help pay for the vehicle.

READ MORE: City of Regina proposes 4.86 per cent mill rate increase

Councillor Andrew Stevens cast the lone vote against approving the police budget. He said he could not stand by continued police budget increases while other budget items experience austerity.

He said continued calls for increased funding for programs like Housing First, community associations and community pools show that other areas of the city are having to cut back.

Stevens said he would like to see police enter into a broader conversation about how the RPS budget can work into the greater community budget. He said his vision would see these social justice issues addressed properly before they become criminal justice issues the police need to deal with.

Bray agreed with some of Stevens’ points and said police are quite active in the community through a wide variety of outreach programs.

While the armoured-vehicle request was approved, the Board of Police Commissioners did reject some budget pitches. The RPS wanted to hire 34 more officers to have a better citizen-to-police ratio in a growing city.

“Our police top population ratio over the last decade has changed fairly significantly,” Bray said.

The request was rejected by the board. Bray did not immediately know the total cost of hiring 34 officers, but said hiring four more would cost over $480,000 with training, salary and benefits.

“Part of the challenge I have is we are a human resource driven business. So 89 per cent of our budget is human resources; that’s something that we’re constantly battling with,” Bray said.

To save money, the RPS shifted 20 office positions to patrol roles. Bray said that another civilian position was added to the service at the cost of a mechanic salary. He said that saves about $30,000 per year.

The police budget represents 1.06 per cent of the city’s total proposed mill rate increase of 4.86 per cent.

That figure is subject to change with the approved mill rate increase of 4.34 per cent.