How Montreal's police force spends its $679M budget
CBC
In June 2020, following a round of demonstrations in the streets of Montreal, Mayor Valérie Plante said she would be open to revisiting how the city's police force is funded.
"This is a big, big conversation," Plante told reporters at the time. "I think, at this point, there are a lot of good ideas coming."
But the municipal budget put forward a few months later offered little in the way of change.
In fact, Plante's budget included a $15-million increase in funding for the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
The police operating budget in 2021 was $679 million, for 11 per cent of the city's total (combined with the fire department, public security accounted for 18 per cent). Social housing, by comparison, accounted for three per cent.
So, where does all this money go? And where do the candidates stand on the idea of redistributing funds from police?
The bulk of the SPVM's budget goes, quite simply, toward paying the salaries of police officers. In 2021, $548 million was set aside for that purpose, up from $535 million a year earlier.
The SPVM had 4,802 officers in 2020, according to its latest annual report. Under the SPVM's collective agreement, a constable with six years experience earns $82,521.
La Presse reported earlier this month the city's police chief, Sylvain Caron, gets $252,000 a year, which is more than Plante's $196,000.
Philippe Pichet, who was suspended 2017 and resigned as police chief a year later, was still receiving $280,000 in 2020.
The salaries of civilian workers — including, for instance, crossing guards and office administrators — make up another $107 million.
Together, salaries at the SPVM make up $655 million — the vast majority of the budget.
This is no surprise, said Massimiliano Mulone, a professor of criminology at the Université de Montréal and an expert in police practices. Salaries are far and away the largest expense at police forces across Canada, he said.
That means any major overhaul of the budget would be difficult, given that police officers are unionized and cannot easily be fired.
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