Peel police are pushing for their largest budget increase ever. Some residents say it's too much
CBC
A group of concerned residents and organizations are pushing back against Peel Regional Police's historic proposed budget for 2025.
The proposal includes a 21.3 per cent increase to the service's operational budget, the largest increase it's ever asked for.
It was approved by the Peel Police Services Board this month. Mississauga Mayor, Caroline Parrish, resigned from the board over the increase earlier this week, with her office saying in a statement Parrish is "not in support of the proposed budget."
Brampton resident and founder of grassroots advocacy group Black Education Fund, David Bosveld, told CBC News the projected increase is unfair to taxpayers, especially considering the increase the service already received for 2024. His organization is one of seven community groups pushing back against the proposal so far.
"It is absolutely unsustainable to see a 21.3 per cent increase to that budget on the heels of a 14 per cent increase in 2024," he said.
If approved by the Peel Region council, the 2025 operational budget increase would amount to $131.7 million — bringing the service's total budget up to $749.4 million for a population of around 1.5 million.
For comparison, York Region Police have proposed a $441.5-million operational budget for 2025 for a population of around 1.2 million. The Toronto Police Service has not made a budget proposal for 2025 yet, but its operational budget for 2024 was $1.186 billion for a population of around three million.
Much of the additional funding would be used to hire 300 new officers, 55 civilians, and 10 communicators, according to the proposal.
In presenting the budget to the board on Nov. 1, Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah, said the increase would help the force address higher instances of violent crime, decrease call response times and accommodate rapid population growth in the region.
But Bosveld doesn't believe more funding will result in lower crime rates.
"We know from all types of research that the number of police officers is not directly correlated to any kind of a reduction in crime," he said. His concerns echo a larger debate over police funding, which came into sharp focus in recent years, particularly following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
Bosveld pointed to a peer-reviewed University of Toronto study from 2023 that looked at the correlation between police funding and crime rates in 20 of Canada's largest municipalities.
Melanie Seabrook is the lead author of that study, which found little evidence that increases in police budgets lead to less crime.
"There's a lot of variability, but overall we didn't see a consistent correlation between police funding and crime rates amongst the 20 municipalities," said Melanie Seabrook, the study's lead author.
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