Regina police Chief Evan Bray addressed a petition on Monday, which called for the department’s budget to be defunded.
The petition on Change.org claims to be created by “concerned citizens,” in light of the recent protests against racism and police brutality.
The Regina Police Services budget for 2020, as approved by the city of Regina, is $96 million. This accounts for around 20 per cent of the city budget.
The petition, which was posted last week, calls for a stop to future police budget increases.
It also calls for a freeze in the hiring of officers, the purchase of additional equipment and the planned expansion of the RPS headquarters.
In a press conference, Bray said, while the majority of funding comes from the city, a large chunk also comes from the province.
“It’s not us that make the determination on funding, but I think we need to understand what is it behind the petition or this dialogue that people are really after,” Bray said.
Adding, the public conversation happening around police oversight is vital.
“What we’re hearing in our community is important for us to hear, so that we can make thoughtful steps forward,” Bray said.
“I think the discussion around police accountability is an important one. This loud voice that we are hearing in our community and throughout the world is stepping up against police brutality not against police.”
According to the petition, other policing budgets including Montreal, account for 11 per cent of the overall budget, 17 per cent in Toronto and 14.5 per cent in Edmonton.
The creators of the petition instead called for funding community initiatives that support black, indigenous and people of colour in Regina.
While Regina city council has yet to see the petition, Mayor Micheal Fougere said he is aware of it.
“It’s too simplistic to say just cut the budget from the police service and put it over here to do something different,” Mayor Michael Fougere said.
“That other activity is equally critical. That is not within the domain of the city of Regina to fund that. That is to say things like mental health issues, housing homelessness, drug addiction, those things are really we need other partners involved. Third party partners and the province to be involved as well.”
Bray echoed this sentiment saying the conversation around funding the police shouldn’t be about defunding the police in order to better fund other work being done in the community, adding that Regina and Saskatchewan have some of the highest crime rates per capita in the country.
“Often times when we’re digging into mental health or addictions type issues, that funding won’t come from the city of Regina,” Bray said.
“So the city of Regina doesn’t really have the ability to take the funding from police and put it into mental health, because mental health falls under the Saskatchewan Health Authority which is provincially funded.”
While Bray did say he feels the police in Regina are adequately funded, he also said they haven’t been able to keep up with the growth of the city.
“Our officers work 24/7 and have trouble keeping their head above water as it is,” Bray said.
“If there’s a way to find partners to help us out with some of the social work we do, and we can focus on true community safety work, I think that’s a positive thing.”
As of Monday afternoon, the petition had more than 2,300 signatures.
“As a society, as a council, as a police service we need to do better. We need to be able to step up and face discrimination head on and that’s what we intend to do,” Fougere said.