Police costs rise, crime rate drops
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Updated: September 17, 2009 4:27 PM
RCMP budget up 55% in past five years
Maple Ridge keeps spending more money on policing, despite the fact that the overall crime rate in the municipality continues to drop.
The district has increased its police budget by $5.7 million in the past five years. According to municipal figures, taxpayers contributed $10.4 million for police protection in 2004. This year, the budget calls for $16.1 million.
Staffing is primarily responsible for the growing budget. The majority of funding goes towards the RCMP contract, which accounts for cost inflation and additional members. In recent years, Maple Ridge increased the number of police officers from 66 to 86.
“If they ask for an increase in their budget, then they have to justify or quantify that,” Mayor Ernie Daykin said of the RCMP.
“There is a level of accountability to council. Do we want to try and be efficient and save money? Yes, but I think there’s a level of expectation out there from the community to be policed at a certain level.”
The police budget also includes annual contributions to regional police initiatives like the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, Emergency Response Team and Forensic Identification Services. While many police duties have been reassigned to these teams, RCMP officers are still responsible for day-to-day policing work in the municipality, like traffic patrols and general investigations, Daykin said.
“The integrated teams save us money in the long run,” he said.
“If we had a homicide in Maple Ridge and we were doing that on our own, it would use up a huge percentage of our resources. There are still demands on the day-to-day policing work. As the community grows that work doesn’t go away.”
However, Maple Ridge Coun. Linda King argues that public safety should not just be about policing. It encompasses how the community is structured and the social services that are in place for the people living in it, she said.
“One of the things that happens with RCMP funding is people always think that more is a good thing,” King said.
“It’s that tendency that causes me every year to ask questions about whether all the public safety money ought to be there or whether it ought it be in other places, particularly given the fact that our crime rate is down quite substantially.”
The crime rate in Maple Ridge decreased 18.5 per cent between 2004 and 2008, according to the most recent statistics from the Canadian Centre for Justice.
In just the past year, the number of offences per 1,000 people dropped from 126 to 106.
Property crimes also declined by 20 per cent and there were 230 less vehicles stolen in 2008 compared to the year before.
However, not all crime numbers decreased. Residential break-and-enters jumped up 5.7 per cent and violent crimes slightly increased to 712 offences from 708.
Maple Ridge is mirroring provincial trends. The overall crime rate in B.C. has plummeted consistently in the past five years to a record low. Since 2003, the Canadian Centre for Justice reports that the crime rate has dropped 27 per cent and the number of offences has declined by more than 85,000.
Statistics also show decreases in property crimes, violent offences and motor vehicles thefts. However, there were 29 more homicides in B.C. in 2008 over the previous year, many of which were gang-related.
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