The City of Toronto is proposing to invest nearly $50 million more into the Toronto police in its 2023 budget.
Toronto’s Mayor John Tory made the announcement on Tuesday, saying the funds represent “substantial new investments in community safety.”
The proposed investment represents a $48.3 million increase — or a 4.3 per cent increase — to the Toronto police budget over the 2022 approved budget.
The funds would bring the total police budget to just over $1.1 billion, the city said in a news release.
The proposed investments will go to the Toronto Police Services Board for consideration and approval next week.
Tory said the proposed funding would allow for 200 new police officers to be added to the force.
According to Tory, 162 of the officers will be allocated to priority response units, with 25 focused in the city’s downtown area.
Twenty-two would be sent to work on major case management. The remaining 16 officers would be dedicated to neighbourhood community policing.
The city said the budget investments will also ensure that Toronto Police can add 90 special constables to “support frontline delivery and 20 additional 9-1-1 operators” to “improve 9-1-1 service and response times.”
Tory said the proposed budget will also include an additional $2 million for youth and families which will be allocated to anti-violence programming.
The city said this will “address the roots of violence and build on existing programming to support youth support including employment.”
In a statement, city councillor and budget committee chair Gary Crawford said the investments into Toronto police “and community safety are the responsible thing to do for a growing city.”
“This month we will be rolling out a budget that protects frontline services while meeting a challenging year without making the affordability crisis worse for Torontonians,” he said.
Tory said there is “no issue that concerns me more than community safety.”
“We have to combat the crime and violence we have seen. I want a safe city for every resident, everywhere in Toronto, at all times,” he said in a statement. “These budget investments will help our police in the work they do, support youth and families, and, most importantly to me as Mayor, will help keep people safe. As I heard throughout the election, this is exactly what Torontonians expect of their City Council.”
-more to come…